A sudden twist in Jannik Sinner’s doping saga has left the tennis world puzzled! A month ago, Sinner publicly announced his doping trial, which silently went on for months since March during his Indian Wells campaign. However, all seemed to be in his favor, as he appealed for his innocence in an independent tribunal of the ITIA. And on August 20th, Sinner revealed that the ITIA had announced that he had “no fault or negligence,” in testing positive for Clostebol (twice), a performance-enhancing drug. But wait. Is that what the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) believes too?

In a surprising revelation, the WADA confirmed that they have appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Thursday, September 26th in regard to the Italian player’s positive result to Clostebol. Moreover, throwing a warning to a possible two-year ban on Sinner, they added,

“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.” Although the WADA is not seeking an immediate suspension on Sinner, the WADA has declared that this matter “is now pending before CAS,” and refused to add more comments at the time.

However, Sinner has previously argued that the reason behind his positive testing is due to the contamination by his ex-physiotherapist, Giacomo Naldi. Per him, Naldi applied a spray containing the drug Clostebol to his own wound, passing on the drug to Sinner while giving him a massage without wearing gloves. Even his coach, Darren Cahill, also came forward to vouch for his protégé’s innocence, saying, “He would never, ever intentionally do anything. He’s just in a situation which is incredibly unfortunate. And the truth came out, exactly what happened. There’s no fault, no negligence.

Moreover, Jannik Sinner, who had to give up his prize money and ranking points earned in the Indian Wells tournament as a fine, took the matter in hand and later fired Naldi and Umberto Ferrara (his fitness coach) due to their involvement in contaminating him. However, some players continued to criticize Sinner, hinting at an unfair judgment due to his privileged position in the ATP rankings. Nevertheless, Sinner refrained from commenting on the backlash and instead proved himself on-court, clinching his maiden US Open victory. 

But after the victory, he addressed how the doping saga still lingered in his mind and that enduring the hardships following the trial was not “easy” for him. However, now with the resurgence of the matter (by the WADA), it seems his misery is far from over. Nevertheless, players all over the world have weighed in on his doping controversy, sharing their opinions. Among them, one notable comment came from Roger Federer too!

Federer’s and Alcaraz’s opinion on Jannik Sinner’s doping controversy

On hand, there is Nick Kyrgios, who openly criticized Jannik Sinner for avoiding the ban. On the other, players like Roger Federer highlighted the mental hardships that an athlete goes through in cases like these. “I understand it’s a tricky situation. It’s the nightmare of every athlete and team to have these allegations and these problems because we fill out these forms all day every day. And it lives with you.”

Moreover, before the US Open started, Carlos Alcaraz added how this must have been a “difficult” moment for Jannik Sinner. He further refrained from making comments on the subject due to the lack of proper information available on the matter. However, he showed his optimism, saying, ”I believe in clean sport.”

Jannik Sinner is poised to move ahead with his tournaments and has now qualified for the quarter-finals at the China Open. But will he be able to overcome the doping case controversy once again? Fans are waiting to discover!