Jannik Sinner doping case: WADA appeals to CAS, seeks ban on player

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) confirmed on Saturday that it had lodged an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on September 26 in the case of Italian tennis player, Jannik Sinner.

Sinner was found by an independent tribunal of the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) to bear no fault or negligence having twice tested positive for clostebol, a prohibited substance, in March 2024. 

A WADA statement read, “It is WADA’s view that the finding of “no fault or negligence” was not correct under the applicable rules. WADA is seeking a period of ineligibility of between one and two years. WADA is not seeking a disqualification of any results, save that which has already been imposed by the tribunal of first instance.”

READ | Why is Jannik Sinner allowed to play despite two failed dope tests in March

Sinner is the number one ranked player in the world and won the Australian Open and the US Open this year.

Last month, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) announced that Sinner failed two drug tests in March — one during a tournament in Indian Wells, California, and one eight days later — but that it was determined the banned anabolic steroid Clostebol entered his system unintentionally through a massage from his physiotherapist, Giacomo Naldi.

Sinner’s defence was that his fitness trainer, Umberto Ferrara, purchased an over-the-counter spray that contained Clostebol in Italy, then gave it to Naldi, who used it on a cut finger. Sinner said Naldi then gave him a massage.

The 23-year-old fired his fitness trainer and physiotherapist because of his two positive steroid tests in March and said at his pre-U.S. Open news conference that he knew he was innocent.