Jannik Sinner, the Italian world No. 1, is in the news for all the wrong reasons, a day ahead of the season’s last Grand Slam, the US Open, which starts in New York on Monday. Sinner may have got away very lightly after testing positive twice for Clostebol, an anabolic steroid, during the Indian Wells tournament in March 2024. What has transpired after that has caused immense heartburn among fellow tennis players and coaches, as the International Tennis Integrity Association (ITIA) has given him a clean chit.
If at first, the outspoken Nick Kyrgios slammed Sinner as a dope cheat four days ago, the latest to jump into the fray is Novak Djokovic, who has dreams of winning his 25th Grand Slam title. Kyrgios was quick off the blocks when he said Sinner had got ‘preferential treatment’ of sorts. What Djokovic said was softer in nature, but he made a great point in true statesmanlike style. “There is a lot of issues in the system,” said Djokovic as a press conference on Saturday night. “I can understand the sentiments of a lot of players that are questioning whether they are treated the same.”
As one who always measures his words before he speaks, Djokovic showed more class as he did not personally attack Sinner. “Hopefully, the governing bodies of our sport will be able to learn from this case and have a better approach for the future,” he said, mere days after winning an elusive Olympic gold medal in Paris. “I think collectively there has to be a change.”
As for whether Sinner is a saint, the tennis world is angry as he was not even suspended when it came to notice he had tested positive for Clostebol. As an Olympic sport, tennis works very hard on anti-doping and from the junior stage of International Tennis Federation (ITF) tournaments, there is education for the athletes. When players graduate to the higher levels, be it ATP or WTA events, anti-doping testing is much more stringent.
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There are any number of cases where anti-doping policies have led to players feeling their privacy was invaded. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has knocked on players’ hotel room doors at even 5am for a urine test. Serena Williams and Mahesh Bhupathi have spoken of it in the past as well, as to how after a late-night match, their sleep was ruined because the bell rang and they had to give a “pee test”.
If these have been the anti-doping measures for elite stars, then why was Sinner treated differently? After his Australian Open triumph this January, he was doing well and hyped. What happened at Indian Wells in March is now well-known, with Giacomo Naldi, his physio, using an over-the-counter spray to treat him. Apparently, fitness trainer Umberto Ferrara had purchased the spray from a shop and had “not read the contents”.
The intrigue does not end there. Naldi had a cut on his finger and when he used the spray on Sinner, the Clostebol entered his body. How it happened is also of intrigue since Sinner suffers from a skin condition called “psoriasiform dermatitis” which can lead to lesions. The argument given to the ITIA was that the Closbetol entered the body because of this condition.
All hell broke loose four days ago, when the ITIA came out with its order. There has been mild punishment for Sinner in the form of ranking points being docked and some prize money cut during the Indian Wells tournament. Indeed, the palpable sense of outrage in the tennis fraternity is understandable. Someone like Patrick Mouratoglou, the famous French coach who has worked with Serena Williams as well as Simona Halep, did not mince words when he said on social media that Sinner has been treated specially.
His angst is over Halep being hauled over the coals after she had tested positive for Roxadustat, something which helps to produce more red blood cells. He kept saying Halep was not guilty, but she had to fight her case at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) for more than two years before being getting a clean chit earlier this year.
Go back to more famous names and cases like that of Maria Sharapova, the winner of five Grand Slam titles. All hell broke loose when she tested positive for Meldonium in 2016 and was banned. She could never lead a normal life after that and has spoken of her trauma in several interviews.
Quite surprisingly, Sinner has got away lightly. His decision to fire his coach and physio three days ago seemed more about damage control. It will be interesting to see if the WADA takes up the Sinner case and knocks on the doors of CAS next.
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