By Iain Axon
(Reuters) – Jannik Sinner accepting an immediate three-month ban after reaching a settlement with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is not unique to the case of the men’s world number one, WADA’s chief counsel said.
Sinner was cleared of wrongdoing after testing positive for the anabolic agent clostebol but accepted the ban after WADA was ready to appeal the decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), where he risked a suspension of up to two years.
The ban will allow Sinner to return before the French Open in May and although he will miss Masters tournaments, the decision has been criticised by current and former players and described as “too convenient”.
However, Ross Wenzel, the chief counsel of WADA Tennis, said that although Sinner did no wrong, it was the anti-doping body’s duty to appeal the decision as athletes bear responsibility for their negligence by members of their support team.
“We appealed it because of the responsibility that athletes have under our rules, under the code for their entourage… We struck a case resolution agreement, which WADA has entered into 70-odd of these in the last four years,” Wenzel told Reuters.
“This is not something that is unique to the case of Mr Sinner. We’ve done it with athletes at all levels.
“The facts of this case are there for everyone to see and to read. We feel that we’ve been transparent in the way that we’ve handled it.
“We feel that given the unique facts of this case … a three-month period of ineligibility is the right one and a fair one.”
NEGATIVE SAMPLES
Wenzel said WADA looked back at all of Sinner’s samples for the 12 months prior to the two positive ones in March, and they all came back as negative.
“There was nothing.. it might be a complex factual scenario, but it was well substantiated and the science ruled out any sort of doping scenario,” he added.
Former world number one and 24-times Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic, who co-founded the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA), said a majority of players do not feel the process is fair.
Women’s world number two Iga Swiatek also escaped a lengthy ban while accepting a one-month suspension last year after testing positive for banned substance trimetazidine (TMZ).
Although Djokovic did not suggest they had intentionally done anything wrong, he said many players feel that favouritism is involved.
“Everyone is entitled to their opinion and some of the people that have expressed their opinions in this case, they’re great champions,” Wenzel added.
“All I would say is that really read the detailed facts of this case as they’re set out in the decision by the Independent Tribunal from August… really engage with those facts and understand.”
A tribunal had accepted that clostebol entered Sinner’s system from a member of his support team through massages and sports therapy.
“If we think this is a case where Mr Sinner should have been banned for 12 months or 24 months – well, then simply we have a difference of opinion. That was not WADA’s view,” Wenzel said.
(Reporting by Iain Axon, Writing by Rohith Nair, editing by Ed Osmond)
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