Despite having achieved incredible victories from January 2024 until today becoming the best player in the world Jannik Sinner has had to manage a truly enormous stress due to the doping case that hit him in March last year.
The Italian ace was found positive for Clostebol twice during the 2024 edition of the Indian Wells Masters 1000 and it was the beginning of a real nightmare, which lasted until early February, when an agreement was reached with WADA for a three-month suspension.
The 23-year-old from Sesto Pusteria - who had been cleared of all charges in the first instance - had been surprised by WADA's memory against the acquittal sentence and risked suffering a ban of one to two years before the CAS in Lausanne.
To avoid this eventuality - which would have caused truly gigantic damage to his career - the 3-time Grand Slam champion decided to accept this agreement with WADA on the advice of his legal team.
Ferrara on Sinner's doping case
Jannik's suspension began on February 9 and will end on May 4, just before the start of the Rome Masters 1000. After playing in front of his home fans, Sinner will also participate in the Hamburg ATP before Roland Garros.
Due to the doping case that concerned him, the world number 1 had to change his team during last season. His fitness coach Umberto Ferrara and his physiotherapist Giacomo Naldi were fired because of their responsibility, being replaced by Marco Panichi and Ulises Badio.
In a long interview with 'La Gazzetta dello Sport', Ferrara spoke for the first time about the events surrounding Sinner's doping case: "There is no doubt that this case has caused serious damage to my reputation and it was right to wait for it to end before speaking.
I have been using Trofodermin for several years due to a chronic disease and I have always stored it with the utmost caution. It is not true that I gave that drug to Naldi, I had only advised him to use it because he had cut his finger and I had warned him about the nature of that product.
Before Jannik was found positive, I had no idea that Naldi had given him massages without gloves precisely because I had warned him about it."
