The decision to suspend Jannik Sinner for three months between grand slams over doping violations is the latest move chipping away at athletes’ confidence in the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), according to a leading sports lawyer.
Sinner and WADA agreed to a three-month ban as part of a settlement over tests that found traces of a steroid called clostebol in the 23-year-old’s system in 2024.
The timing of the WADA hearing and the truncated ban allows the world number one men’s tennis player to play and win the Australian Open in January, sit out until early May, before returning in time for the Rome Masters in the lead-up to the French Open later that month.
The decision has been met with widespread criticism, with 2003 US Open winner Andy Roddick equating it to a student “getting suspended during Spring Break”.
Sports lawyer Tim Fuller, who represented Australian swimmer Shayna Jack during her doping saga, said it was the latest move eroding trust in WADA and the whole integrity of the anti-doping process.
“Athletes and everybody involved in sport — whether it’s a fan or administrator — are starting to lose confidence in WADA and the doping regime,” he told ABC Radio National.
“It follows on from the perplexing approach to the Chinese swimmers prior to the Paris Games. These types of decisions really erode confidence in the rules — what’s good for one is not good for another.
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“There’s supposed to be consistency with the rules … [but] at the moment we’re starting to see the so-called discretion authorities are able to use being applied to leading athletes and not to others.”
Fuller said he had heard from a number of athletes saying “they’re very unhappy with this decision”, and plenty more have voiced their opinions publicly.
World number eight Daniil Medvedev, who has lost eight of his past nine matches against Sinner, told reporters he hopes this sets a precedent that other players can take advantage of.
“I hope that from now on everyone can talk to WADA and if they tell you: ‘we found this, it’s been two years’, you answer: ‘no, I want one month’,” he said in remarks translated from French.
“I hope it will set a precedent. Otherwise it would be strange.“
Outspoken Australian player Nick Kyrgios and three-time grand slam champion Stan Wawrinka also spoke out against the ruling, while former French and Australian Open winner Yevgeny Kafelnikov posted on social media saying WADA is the “dirtiest” organisation.
He called on other players to boycott matches against Sinner upon his return.
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‘He hasn’t been punished’
WADA accepted Sinner had no intention to cheat and accepted his explanation for how the clostebol got into his system, for which he tested positive in an in-competition test at Indian Wells and a second test a few days after his semifinal loss.
The explanation was that his fitness coach in February 2024 bought a dermatological cream called Trofodermin, which contains the banned steroid clostebol and is used to heal cuts, in the lead-up to the California tournament in March.
According to the initial reporting from the International Tennis Integrity Agency’s (ITIA) investigation into Sinner: “Trofodermin is available over the counter in Italy and does not require a prescription (unlike most other countries).”
Jannik Sinner tested positive during and just after last year’s Indian Wells tounament, where he reached the semifinals. (Getty Images)
According to the Sinner team, physiotherapist Giacomo Naldi applied a Trofodermin spray to a cut on his finger on most days at Indian Wells, during which he gave Sinner daily full-body massages and those massages were likely how the clostebol got into his system.
The ITIA accepted Sinner did not know members of his team had the spray, did not know that the spray contained a banned substance, and did not know Naldi had used the spray.
At the time Sinner was seeking no ban and arguing he bore no fault or negligence. WADA accepted the explanation but did not accept that Sinner had been as cautious as possible, saying: “An athlete bears responsibility for the entourage’s negligence.”
Fuller said WADA accepting his explanation was one thing, but “he hasn’t been punished for” his own negligence in the whole saga.
“He didn’t take all the steps that an athlete must demonstrate,” Fuller said.
“You can’t just pin it on your doctor or your trainer … you are the one as an athlete that bears the ultimate responsibility.”
Jack was provisionally banned for four years after a steroid called ligandrol was found in her system, but that was later reduced to two years after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) found she did not knowingly ingest the banned substance.
Fuller said comparing her case to the recent cases was “really perplexing”.
WADA has formally withdrawn its appeal to CAS, lodged in September, over the initial decision by the ITIA to not ban Sinner at all.
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