Suspended Italian tennis player Stefano Battaglino says he is "happy" to see Jannik Sinner avoiding suspension but also admits that he is "disappointed" in the doping authorities who slapped him with a four-year ban over testing for the same prohibited substance.
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A day after the world No. 1 won the Cincinnati Masters, the ITIA released a shocking announcement, revealing that the 23-year-old twice tested positive for a banned steroid clostebol. However, since his team was able to determine that it came while his physio was using an over-the-counter spray - that turned out to be contaminated - he didn't get a provisional ban and he also didn't face any suspension after the investigation concluded because he "bore no fault or negligence" for what happened.
But when Battaglino tested positive for clostebol in 2022 September at an ITF event in Casablanca, he was removed from tennis for four years.
"The drug is the same, as was the reduced quantity: one gets nothing, I get four years. I am happy for him (Jannik Sinner) and wish him all the success in the world; but for me, I am really disappointed, very much so," the 26-year-old told Corriere della Sera.
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Since then, the suspended Italian has been earning a living by working in a family business.
For the sport, I am a pariah. And in fact, I have changed my life since February 2023, when I was suspended: I work in the family business, and I consider myself lucky. To say, if I had been a tennis coach, I would have been ruined," he said.
Battaglino reveals the dark reality of being an ITF-level player
While Sinner's case was drawing lots of backlash and scrutiny from certain sides, coach Darren Cahill said in one of his interviews that the two-time Grand Slam champion had the financial resources to instantly hire a very strong legal team and turn every stone while trying to prove that he didn't intentionally or knowingly take a banned substance.
Battaglino - who achieved his career-high ranking of No. 760 in 2022 July - spent the majority of his career playing at the lower-tier tournaments. And since they can't afford a coach or other staff that the top players have, they have to use what is given to them. With that being said, the 26-year-old suggests that he was probably given a product that was contaminated with a banned substance - but he just didn't know it.
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"If you are not among the top in the world and have a coach, you share him with eight other athletes, same with the physiotherapist. And then, the rooms with other players, the night flights, the shared taxis to get to the tournament. The risks of contamination are numerous. It bothers me to know that someone might think I am a doper, that I took substances to cheat: it is not so, I never did. When I tell the whole story, everyone says it is madness. And to think that when I read about Clostebol on the portal, I didn't even know what it was," the former world No. 760 explained.
Sinner has maintained his position from Day 1
For the world No. 1, the most important thing was that he won his case and avoided being suspended. But then he faced a different kind of challenge - he started hearing that it was a double-standard case and some started using his name in a negative context.
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In his first interviews since the news came out, the 23-year-old didn't hide that he was extremely stressed out in the last few months and that it took a toll on him. But he underlined that he felt innocent right from the start. And after winning the US Open, he was asked to one more time address how he felt about some of the comments made about him.
I don't know. You have to ask all the other players. This, I don't know. Well, that what I can say is that the general reaction of the players was quite positive, even when things came out. Then there have been, of course, some different voices, but this is in everything. This is not only in tennis. This is in other sports and different jobs also," Sinner said.
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"I mean, you can't really do anything about that. That's why you have, as I said before, the people close to you, these are the people who knows what was going on and what I and my team went through because it was not only me; it was the whole situation. And, yeah, that's it. I just can talk from my side and from my team's perspective, and we are all very proud of this achievement.
