Jannik Sinner’s doping case has divided the tennis world for months, with the announcement he will serve a three-month ban leading to further questions.
World number one Jannik Sinner has accepted an immediate three-month doping ban after the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said they had settled on his period of ineligibility, allowing him to return before the French Open in May.
WADA had appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against Sinner’s initial exoneration by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), announced in August after the three-time major winner failed drug tests.
Sinner, who successfully defended his Australian Open crown last month, had tested positive for anabolic agent clostebol which the 23-year-old said had entered his system from a member of his support team through massages and sports therapy.
Sinner’s ban began on February 9 and will end on May 4 while he can return to training on April 13. The French Open is scheduled to begin on May 25.
“WADA confirms that it has entered into a case resolution agreement in the case of Italian tennis player Jannik Sinner, with the player accepting three months of ineligibility for an anti-doping rule violation,” WADA said in a statement on Saturday.
The case was set to be heard by CAS in April and Sinner was in danger of being banned for up to two years. Sinner will miss Masters tournaments at Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo, and Madrid.
The positive tests were not initially made public while the ITIA investigation was ongoing and Sinner had been allowed to carry on playing after successfully appealing provisional suspensions.
