MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – JANUARY 28: Jannik Sinner of Italy poses with the Norman Brookes Challenge … [+]
World No. 1 Jannik Sinner has accepted an immediate 3-month ban from tennis upon reaching a settlement with the World Anti-Doping Agency related to his two positive drug tests in 2024.
The suspension runs from Feb. 9-May 4, meaning the three-time Grand Slam champion will miss the “Sunshine Swing” in Indian Wells and Miami in March but will be eligible to return ahead of Roland Garros, which runs May 25-June 8. He will return in time to play the Italian Open in Rome May 7-18.
Sinner won’t forfeit any titles or prize money.
“I think (Sinner) did the right thing accepting the ban right now,” six-time major champ Boris Becker told Patrick McEnroe on MadDog Sports Radio.
Not everyone was happy, however.
Nick Kyrgios, who has been a harsh critic of Sinner, wrote on social media: “Guilty or not? Sad day for tennis. Fairness in tennis does not exist.”
Three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka wrote: “I don’t believe in a clean sport anymore …”
Tennis writer and analyst Jon Wertheim called the punishment “about right.”
The PTPA, meantime, lamented the “lack of transparency” in the sport, something that many others, including John McEnroe and Rennae Stubbs, have discussed.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport said Jan. 10 it scheduled a closed-doors hearing on April 16-17 at its headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland related to the World Anti-Doping Agency’s appeal that sought to ban Sinner from the sport for at least one year..
At that time, CAS gave no timetable for a verdict, though the parties could have requested a fast-track decision before the French Open starts.
WADA is challenging a decision last year by the International Tennis Integrity Agency not to suspend Sinner for what it judged was accidental contamination by a banned anabolic steroid last March. Sinner’s explanation — that trace amounts of Clostebol in his doping sample was due to a massage from a trainer who used the substance after cutting his own finger — was accepted.
The 23-year-old Italian won the U.S. Open in September after details of his case were revealed. It had been kept confidential since April because Sinner successfully appealed against being provisionally banned from playing.
Still, Sinner has seemed to shake all of this off as he went about his business while winning his third major last month at the Australian Open.
“I keep playing like this because I have a clear mind on what happened,” Sinner said. “If I knew I was guilty, I would not play like this, and that’s it.”
Sinner has career earnings of more than $39 million.
