Jannik Sinner Receives 3 Months Ban from WADA
World No. 1 and recent Australian Open winner Jannik Sinner settled his case with WADA (The World Anti-Doping Agency) on Saturday, February 15, which will see the Italian suspended from competition from 9 February 2025 to 11:59 pm on 4 May 2025.
Sinner, who was scheduled to go to court in April, avoided a potential ban of 1-2 years.
Here is WADA’s summary of the Sinner case:
“The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) confirms that it has entered into a case resolution agreement in the case of Italian tennis player Jannik Sinner, with the player accepting a three-month period of ineligibility for an anti-doping rule violation that led to him testing positive for clostebol, a prohibited substance, in March 2024.?
In September, WADA lodged an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in the case of Mr. Sinner, who had been found by an Independent Tribunal to bear no fault or negligence.??
Notwithstanding this appeal, the circumstances surrounding this specific case meant that in order to ensure a fair and appropriate outcome, WADA was prepared to enter into a settlement agreement, in accordance with Article 10.8.2 of the World Anti-Doping Code.
WADA accepts the athlete’s explanation for the cause of the violation as outlined in the first instance decision. WADA accepts that Mr. 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. 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. As previously stated, WADA did not seek a disqualification of any results, save that which was previously imposed by the tribunal of first instance. The International Tennis Federation and International Tennis Integrity Agency, both co-respondents to WADA’s CAS appeal, neither of which appealed the first-instance decision, both accepted the case resolution agreement.
Under the terms of the agreement, Mr. Sinner will serve his period of ineligibility from 9 February 2025 to 11:59 pm on 4 May 2025 (which includes a credit for four days previously served by the athlete while he was under a provisional suspension). As per the Code Article 10.14.2, Mr. Sinner may return to official training activity from 13 April 2025.
In light of the case resolution agreement, WADA has formally withdrawn its appeal to CAS.”
The three-time Major winner had this to say regarding his suspension:
Sinner’s statement:
“This case had been hanging over me for nearly a year and the process still had a long time to run with a decision maybe only at the end of the year.
I have always accepted that I am responsible for my team and realize Wada’s strict rules are an important…
— José Morgado (@josemorgado) February 15, 2025
The Tennis world has had mixed reactions to the verdict of Sinner’s case, with some present and former players for and against the ruling.
I don’t believe in a clean sport anymore …
— Stanislas Wawrinka (@stanwawrinka) February 15, 2025
Sinner will miss this week’s ATP Tour 500 level event in Doha, Qatar, and the subsequent Masters 1000 events in Indian Wells, California, Miami, Florida, Monte Carlo, Monaco and Madrid, Spain.
He will return to action for his hometown Masters 1000 event in Rome, Italy.
Sinner currently owns 19 career titles, and nearly 40 million in prize money. He is 7-0 in 2025 and has a career win/loss record of 270/80.
The 23-year-old will look to add to Grand Slam tally when he competes and Roland Garros later this Spring. The San Candido native lost in the semifinals in Paris last year to eventual winner Carlos Alcaraz.
