Jannik Sinner: World number one and Australian Open winner accepts three-month ban from tennis for doping

The 23-year-old tennis star, who only just won the Australian Open last month, has reached a settlement with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). He returned two positive drug tests last year and as a result will be suspended from the sport from February 9 until May 4.

This timeframe means that the Australian Open champion will be eligible to return to the court for the next Grand Slam, the French open. The championship will begin at Roland Garros on May 19.

WADA challenged a decision to clear Sinner of the doping charges at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). It was judged that a banned anabolic steroid had accidentally contaminated the player’s system, with claims made by Sinner that the trace amounts of clostebol in his system was caused by a masseuse using the substance and it entering his system after cutting his finger accepted by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA).

In a statement issued on Saturday (February 15), WADA accepted that Sinner “did not intend to cheat, and that his exposure to clostebol did not provide any performance-enhancing benefit and took place without his knowledge as the result of negligence of members of his entourage”.

The organisation added: “However, under the code and by virtue of CAS precedent, an athlete bears responsibility for the entourage’s negligence. Based on the unique set of facts of this case, a three-month suspension is deemed to be an appropriate outcome.”

Four-time Wimbledon semi-finalist Tim Henman told Sky Sports News that the ban for Sinner was “too convenient”. He said: “First and foremost I don’t think in any way he has been trying to cheat at any stage, I don’t believe that. However, when I read this statement this morning it just seems a little bit too convenient.

“Obviously having just won the Australian Open, to miss three months of the Tour and therefore to be eligible to play at Roland Garros, the timing couldn’t have been any better for Sinner, but I still think it leaves a pretty sour taste for the sport. When you’re dealing with drugs in sport it very much has to be black and white, it’s binary, it’s positive or negative, you’re banned or you’re not banned.

“When you start reading words like settlement or agreement, it feels like there’s been a negotiation and I don’t think that will sit well with the player cohort and the fans of the sport.”

Sinner’s ban comes after women’s number two player Iga Swiatek was banned for one month after banned substance trimetazidine was found in her system. The ITIA accepted that the breach was caused by contamination of medicine the tennis star was taking for jet lag.

Swiatek was provisionally suspended from September 22 until October 4, but her breach was not made public. She served eight further days in late November and early December, and was informed that WADA would not be appealing the ruling.