The Lausanne-based organisation announced on Friday that world number one Jannik Sinner will have his hearing over doping allegations at the Court of Arbitration for Sport from April 16–17. Following Sinner’s clearance by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) following two positive tests for the prohibited steroid clostebol in March of last year. The World Anti-Doping Agency filed an appeal. Sinner, the defending Australian Open champion.
Explained to the ITIA that the substance got into his system after his physiotherapist treated a cut with a spray that contained it, after which the player had sports therapy and massage. Sinner acknowledged that the issue was still on his mind as he prepared to take on big-hitting Chilean Nicolas Jarry in a tough first-round test at Melbourne Park. The 24-time Grand Slam champion claimed players had been “kept in the dark.”
An impartial tribunal accepted his account of accidental contamination and cleared him in August. Sinner asserted that a massage from a trainer who had used Clostebol to heal a finger injury was how the prohibited chemical got into his system. But former world number one Novak Djokovic said he believed Sinner when he claimed he tested positive because of contamination. Following the release of information about his case.
Tennis Integrity on the Line
Jannik Sinner won the U.S. Open in September. Due to Sinner’s successful appeal against his provisional playing ban, everything has been kept under wraps since April. CAS said in a statement, “No parties requested a public hearing and it will be conducted behind closed doors.”
Asked on the eve of the Australian Open if he knew when a verdict was due, the 23-year-old said: “I know exactly as much as you guys know. We are in a stage where we don’t know many, many things. It’s something that I have had with me now for quite a long time. But it is what it is. I’m here trying to prepare for the Grand Slam. Let’s see how it goes.”
