Italian tennis player Jannik Sinner, world number one, tested positive in an anti-doping test carried out during the Indian Wells Masters, a tournament played between March 3 and 17, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) announced on Tuesday. The same body has confirmed that the current leader of the tournament will only be sanctioned with the subtraction of the points obtained during the competition and will not be suspended, as the consumption of the prohibited substance was considered to have been involuntary.
An analysis carried out on the tennis player revealed traces of clostebol, a banned anabolic steroid that is a substance not specified on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) prohibited list. The positive result was confirmed by a second test also in Indian Wells, a competition in which he lost in the semi-finals to Carlos Alcaraz. An infraction like that can be punished with up to four years of suspension, but that will not apply to Sinner. The athlete appealed against the suspension and based his defence on voluntary contagion.
Sinner’s physiotherapist, Giacomo Naldi, was responsible for the incident, having applied a product containing clostebol, a substance not permitted by the ITIA, to the player. The professional cut himself with a scalpel to treat his patient’s calluses, treated him with a spray whose contents he did not check and “his lack of care caused him to become contaminated when he came into contact with an open wound on the tennis player,” explains the statement issued by the tennis player. The accidental nature of the incident has allowed the Italian to continue competing without further complications, with the US Open, a tournament whose preliminary stages are already underway, on the near horizon.
Sinner accepted the points reduction without objection and said he was eager to move on from the situation: “I will now put this difficult and deeply unfortunate period behind me. I will continue to do everything possible to ensure that I remain compliant with the ITIA anti-doping programme,” he said in a statement shared by his team.
Sinner has won five titles so far this year, putting him at the top of the ATP rankings. Among his awards are the Australian Open (Grand Slam), the Miami Masters and the Cincinnati Masters. The latter was won by the Italian on Tuesday, after beating American Frances Tiafoe.
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