Jannik Sinner rested in the last week after his triumph at the 2024US Open, which allowed him to strengthen his status as the worlds number 1 and absolute best player in 2024. The young Italian ace has won six titles so far this season, including two Majors and two Masters 1000. The 23-year-old from San Candido has continued the progress already shown in the last part of last year, when he had proved to be now a top player in all respects.
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Jannik had some physical problems during the spring, especially in his hip, which forced him to withdraw from the Masters 1000 in Madrid and to give up the Masters 1000 in Rome. Just before the US Open, it was announced that the Italian champion had been found positive for Clostebol in two doping tests in March but was declared innocent at the end of the trial.
The worldnumber 1 has quickly demonstrated that contamination was unintentional and could not have been prevented in any way. This case led Sinner to interrupt his professional relationship with Umberto Ferrara and Giacomo Naldi, both responsible for the event. Their place in the team of the Italian was taken by Marco Panichi and Ulises Badio, who had already worked together in the team of 24-timeGrand Slam champion Novak Djokovic.
Another controversy
Sinners doping case has generated much debate in the tennis world, between those who claim he received preferential treatment and those who have strongly defended him.
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The cases of positivity to the well known Clostebol in tennis become viral for the inevitable correlation with what happened in recent months to the number one in the world Jannik Sinner. The 'new' affair concerns the former number 760 of the ATP ranking, Italian, Stefano Battaglino. While the other blue Marco Bortolotti was cleared of the charges by proving his innocence, as well as the 23-year-old from San Candido, all this did not happen with the 26-year-old. The TAS rejected the appeal lodged by the player and confirmed the 4 years of disqualification, until January 2027. But there are differences between the situation of Battaglino and Sinner, which led the arbitral tribunal of sport to validate the sentence.
The two cases, although the substance in question is the same, are quite different. Battaglino tested positive during the ITF M15 in Casablanca (Morocco) in October 2022. The temporary suspension started in February 2023, followed by the athletes complaint. As reported by Eurosport, the Italian said that the contamination occurred after a massage made by the physiotherapist present at the event but the lawyer of the player was unable to find the professional.
The appeal was therefore dismissed on the basis of arguments "manifestly insufficient". Battaglino has not reconstructed the way he came into contact with Clostebol, unlike Bortolotti and Sinner himself. Unfortunately for him, the legal authority could not do anything but confirm the disqualification. The fans have naturally been wild on social media about the affair.
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The world number 1 is almost certain to finish the season at the top of the ATP ranking, having a huge gap compared to Alexander Zverev and Carlos Alcaraz. The 23-year-old from San Candido is playing his best tennis on the indoor hard court and will try to make 2024 even more special. His next official tournaments will be the ATP 500 in Beijing and the Masters 1000 in Shanghai, before returning to Europe for the final events before the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin.
Other players' opinion
During an interview with TV2 Norway, Casper Ruud opened up on Sinners recent controversy: I noticed at the start, before I got into the case and the sequence of events, that I also thought there were a few owls in the bog. He is No 1 in the world, there had to be discrimination. But then I familiarised myself with the case and the rules.
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If you have read the documents and understand the process in this type of case, then you understand that there is no discrimination here. What Sinner has done well, in order to defend himself, is that he managed to find an explanation within 15 days after testing positive. He understood quite quickly where it came from.
There are not many athletes who manage to come up with an explanation within 15 days, but Jannik has managed it. It speaks in his favour that he quickly found out where the substance came from and that he has a reasonable explanation. This is an extremely small dose that has come through some skin rashes, as far as I understand, and I expect that there are good doctors who look at this and think that there is an explanation that can be credible.
