Just hours before the start of the fourth Grand Slam of the year, the US Open, the most relevant news continues to be the double positive test for clostelloplegia that Jannik Sinner had in March. After the pertinent explanations given by both the Italian player and his team, it is crystal clear to me that the transalpine player will not commit any crime and, much less, try to seek any advantage by using prohibited substances.
I know the player well enough to be able to say without hesitation that he is one of the most correct and polite players on the circuit. I find it unthinkable that he could act falsely knowing that he is doing so. A mistake was made within his team, which has been sufficiently settled, I believe, with the financial penalty imposed on the player by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) of 325,000 dollars (290,000 euros) and the loss of 400 points.
The day-to-day life of players is sometimes excessively vulnerable in this regard. Any slip or unfortunate error can bring about a punishment that is often exaggerated. I remember, to name just one example, a case that we experienced closely during my years on the tour: the sanction imposed on an Argentine doubles player who, with obvious hair loss problems, habitually used a medication that, from one year to the next, became part of the prohibited products. The leaders knew, obviously, that there had been no intention of obtaining an illicit advantage on the part of that tennis player. And yet, encouraged by certifying their commitment to the theoretical fair play and also knowing the little importance that that player had, they wanted the full weight of the law to fall on him.
These same leaders are being accused of double standards these days because, in the case at hand, they have considered that they should not have punished Sinner. It really strikes me that certain media outlets, far from criticizing the excessive punishments they have given on other occasions, are now demanding a similar punishment for the current number one in the ATP rankings. That there are people who, without a complete knowledge of each case, are always ready to give their opinion, judge and, above all, condemn others is nothing short of surprising.
And yet, I am even more surprised that it is from within the tennis circuit itself, some of his colleagues, who have positioned themselves against him. I do not understand that some of his own colleagues, tennis players who, without a doubt, have trained with him or have had him as an opponent and who know perfectly well the implacable monitoring that the World Anti-Doping Agency carries out on all of them (with special emphasis on the best-positioned tennis players; ask them, if not), are precisely those who sow doubts about his innocence or who directly want him to be punished, which they know for a fact is excessive.
For the sake of a healthy society, in this case as in many others, it would be worth remembering, and not falling into, the saying of one of the main writers and thinkers in German history, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: “Evil needs no reasons, a pretext is enough.”
As Jannik himself has pointed out, this is not the best way to approach a tournament of this nature. The mystery will be cleared up in the coming days. I hope and wish that it will be in a positive way and that the great Italian player can compete free from all these controversies and that, once again, his tennis contributes to making us enjoy this great event.
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