Jannik Sinner’s doping case and what players’ reaction says about tennis

On Tuesday, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) announced that it had sanctioned men’s world No 1 Jannik Sinner for twice testing positive for clostebol, an anabolic steroid and banned substance. It also announced that an independent tribunal convened by the ITIA had reviewed its investigation into Sinner’s anti-doping case, and had found “no fault or negligence” on the Italian’s behalf.

The ITIA stripped Sinner of his ranking points, prize money, and results from the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, where the first positive test took place on March 10. The second took place on March 18. Sinner was provisionally suspended — as is mandatory for an adverse analytical finding (AAF) for a non-specified substance — after both tests. On both occasions, Sinner appealed against the suspension and an independent board convened by the ITIA reviewed the appeal and upheld it, allowing him to continue playing.

“I will continue to do everything I can to ensure I continue to comply with the ITIA’s anti-doping programme and I have a team around me that are meticulous in their own compliance,” Sinner said in a statement on Tuesday.

All of these processes follow the Tennis Anti-Doping Program (TADP) regulations. But that hasn’t stopped the fury from Sinner’s fellow players.

“Different rules for different players,” said Canadian Denis Shapovalov. “Can’t imagine what every other player that got banned for contaminated substances is feeling right now,” he wrote a minute earlier.

France’s Lucas Pouille said: “Maybe they should stop taking us for fools, no?”

Nick Kyrgios, the Wimbledon runner-up in 2022, said: “Whether it was accidental or planned. You get tested twice with a banned (steroid) substance… you should be gone for two years.”

The American player Tennys Sandgren added: “This is ridiculous. Second-hand steroids through a massage?? ATP always looks out for their money-makers. Good for business, bad for transparency and integrity.”

Perhaps most telling was the opinion of Tara Moore. The ITIA provisionally suspended Moore in May 2022 after she tested positive for the anabolic steroids boldenone and nandrolone. Moore appealed her provisional suspension, like Sinner, but her explanation was not accepted. Moore then could not play for 19 months, but she was exonerated when an independent tribunal convened by the ITIA ruled that she bore no fault or negligence for testing positive. It found that contaminated meat was the source of her positive tests.

“I guess only the top players’ images matter. I guess only the independent tribunal’s opinion on the top players is taken as sound and right. Yet they question them in my case. Just makes no sense,” she said.

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The example of Moore and her sentiments get to the heart of the reaction to Sinner’s case. Even though the process has been conducted according to ITIA protocol, and even though comparing different cases is of little use, it exacerbates suspicions that double standards are rife in tennis. When those feelings alight on doping and sporting integrity, they inevitably catch light.

The best players get favourable scheduling, receive appearance fees from certain tournaments and are listened to more closely if they have a gripe about a certain issue. Players largely know and accept this, and the fact that the top players have earned their status. Elite players win matches, tournaments and prize money. They are a big draw for crowds and television networks. Tennis benefits from superstar names, with the overall investment and interest in the sport largely tied to their presence.

That doesn’t mean there is no resentment, even in situations that have nothing to do with perceived cheating or sporting integrity. Take the French Open this year, when bad weather in the first week meant most players had to battle through constantly rain-delayed and rescheduled matches. The best players were put on show courts with roofs every day and glided through the early rounds with no such worries.

With Sinner’s ruling, some players’ comments reveal a perception of a superstar being treated differently in sport’s most contentious area. Much of the frustration comes from a lingering feeling that tennis authorities pander to the top players, from umpires during matches to the ATP and WTA Tours.

In its statement announcing Sinner’s penalty, ITIA chief executive Karen Moorhouse said, “we take any positive test extremely seriously and will always apply the rigorous processes set out by WADA.

“The ITIA carried out a thorough investigation into the circumstances leading to the positive tests with which Mr Sinner and his representatives fully co-operated.”

In 2017, when Maria Sharapova returned from her 15-month doping ban for testing positive for meldonium, she was given a wildcard to the Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart. The tournament even delayed the conclusion of its first-round matches so that Sharapova, whose ban expired on a Wednesday, could play in the event.

“It’s not OK,” Barbora Strycova, another player who had been banned for six months for testing positive for sibutramine, a stimulant — which she argued came from a weight-loss supplement — said at the time.

“She is Maria and what can you do? I will not get pissed off about it. I’m a bit shocked actually with what is happening at the tournament in Stuttgart but I can’t change it so I won’t think about it.”

It is easy to see why players, whether those like Moore, who have gone through ITIA investigations, or other ATP players, would have similar feelings towards Sinner’s case. Moore, and Simona Halep, who was provisionally suspended in October 2022 for testing positive for roxadustat, also appealed their mandatory provisional suspensions.

Sinner was successful but Moore and Halep were not, and the rejection of their appeals was what triggered the public announcement of a provisional suspension. Moore missed 19 months. Halep missed the same timeframe but returned after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) reduced her four-year ban (imposed by the ITIA) to nine backdated months. CAS has not provided full written reasons for its reduction.

Meanwhile, Marco Bortolotti, an Italian doubles player with a career-high ranking of No 87, avoided a ban this year when, like his compatriot, it was agreed that he bore no fault or negligence for his AAF for clostebol.

Two more Italian players, Matilde Paoletti and Mariano Tammaro, 17-year-olds at the time, tested positive for clostebol in 2021. The same process was followed — mandatory provisional suspension, appeal, investigation, explanation, tribunal. Paoletti was found to have “no fault or negligence” but Tammaro was banned for two years. Different cases had different outcomes. Another Italian, Stefano Battaglino, was given a four-year ban last November after testing positive for clostebol and an independent tribunal finding that the anti-doping rule violations were intentional.

When it comes to how they are investigated, the cases are different in their evidence and in their complexity. This doesn’t lessen the perception that players are being treated differently, or that Sinner has escaped what Moore, Halep (a two-time Grand Slam champion and former world No 1), and other players have endured. One of those benefits of being an elite name in tennis is surely a factor here: the financial access to swift legal support, and the ability to mobilise resources quickly. The players’ reactions are directed at Sinner because he is the player in question but ultimately, they show off their feelings towards tennis’ systems.

The upshot is that Sinner will now play at the U.S. Open from Monday, where he will likely be given the most convenient scheduling and all the other privileges the top players are afforded. How his fellow professionals will receive him remains to be seen.

(Top photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)