(Paris) Cleared after two positive tests for a doping product (the anabolic agent clostebol), world number one tennis player Jannik Sinner may not be completely finished with this affair which is tarnishing his image.
Less than a week before the start of the US Open in New York, the decision by the ITIC has provoked criticism from several players and may be subject to appeal.
What happened?
Sinner tested positive for doping in March 2024 twice, eight days apart: on March 10 during the Indian Wells tournament and on March 18, out of competition but just before the Miami tournament. Trace amounts of clostebol were found in his urine.
The Italian defended himself by explaining that he had been “contaminated by a member of his staff, who had applied an over-the-counter spray containing clostebol to his own hand to treat a small injury”, according to the International Tennis Integrity Agency (Itia).
Explanation accepted by the agency which revealed the affair on Tuesday, which had been kept secret until then.
Both times, the player appealed, which allowed him to reduce his automatic suspensions (from April 4 to 5 for the first, from April 17 to 20 for the second).
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) told AFP on Wednesday that it “reserves the right to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS)”. The Italian anti-doping agency (Nado) can also appeal to try to obtain a suspension for the 23-year-old player.
What is Clostebol?
WADA classifies it as an “anabolic-androgenic steroid,” a long list of testosterone derivatives that can stimulate muscle growth. Since clostebol is not naturally produced by the body, there is no threshold: its presence is enough for an anti-doping test to be considered positive.
Anti-doping authorities also do not explain what amount would have a significant effect on performance.
What are the sanctions provided for?
In Sinner’s case, there are three possible thresholds for suspension from all competition: four years – the default sanction for a violation of anti-doping rules – two years if he could prove that the intake was not intentional, or no suspension if he could establish “how the substance entered his body”, by showing that he himself had committed no “fault or negligence”, which meant providing Itia with a plausible contamination scenario.
This is the conclusion reached by the independent tennis tribunal, which therefore applied to Sinner the sanction provided for in such cases by the tennis anti-doping programme (TADP): the withdrawal of results, ATP points and bonuses from the tournament in which the positive test was recorded.
Have there been other comparable cases?
The same reasoning was applied on March 21 to Marco Bortolotti, Sinner’s compatriot: tested positive for clostebol during the ATP Challenger tournament in Lisbon in October 2023, the Italian had established “involuntary contamination” and had only lost the results obtained during this competition, without serving a suspension.
As of the end of 2020, a study published in the journal Drug testing and analysis (“Detection of clostebol in sports: Accidental doping?”) noted an increase in detections of clostebol, “particularly in Italy”, where this molecule is sold without a prescription in the form of a healing cream, Trofodermin.
Last May, the specialist doping website Honest Sport counted “38 Italian athletes who tested positive for clostebol between 2019 and 2023”, including footballer Fabio Lucioni, captain of Benevento Calcio during its promotion to Serie A, and two tennis hopefuls, Matilde Paoletti and Mariano Tammaro. Honest Sport certainly pointed out that Italy was one of the few countries where clostebol was easily available in pharmacies, but questioned these alleged cascading contaminations while a warning on the packaging of Trofodermin reminds us that the cream contains a prohibited product.
What impact on Sinner’s image?
Sober, diligent, reserved but terribly effective, Sinner has made his way to the top of the world pyramid and into the hearts of the public.
But players like Frenchman Lucas Pouille (“Maybe you should stop taking us for fools, right?”) or Australian Nick Kyrgios (“You should be suspended for two years. Your performance has improved”) have directly attacked their colleague via social networks.
Sinner was however supported by his compatriot Nicola Pietrangeli in the Corriere dello sport “I’m sure he’s clean, and if I were him, I’d get back the money I deservedly won at Indian Wells,” explained the double winner of Roland-Garros in 1959 and 1960.