Written by Richard Pagliaro | @Itenisi_Manje | Wednesday, September 4, 2024
Photo credit: Corleve/Mark Peterson
NEW YORK-Roger Federer you believe This is Jannik Sinner’s place an explanation of how the banned steroid got into his system.
The Swiss star said questions about consistency in the anti-doping protocol had caused controversy in Sinner’s case.
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Talking to Today Show manager and avid tennis fan Savannah GuthrieFederer said he understands the frustration expressed by other players in the way Sinner’s case was handled.
“I understand the frustration of, ‘Are you being treated the same way as others?'” Federer told the Today Show. “And I think that’s where it comes down.”
World No. 1 Sinner provided a urine sample in Indian Wells on March 10, 2024, which contained the presence of a metabolite of clostebol at “low levels,” ITIA announced. Another sample, extracted without competition eight days later, was also found to contain the same metabolite.
ITIA said that after each test, a temporary suspension was applied to Sinner.
“On both occasions, Sinner successfully challenged the suspension and was able to continue playing,” ITIA said.
Sinner said he was exposed to the banned substance, clostebol, by contacting his physiotherapist and denied cheating.
Other players charged with double duty have Sinner allowed to continue playing for six months before the ITIA announced it had found “no fault” in his case and Simona Halep the claim of unfair defamation was initially rejected and he was not allowed to play. Halep took her case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and received a shortened sentence on appeal.
Twenty-year-old Grand Slam champion Federer said that although he trusts the anti-doping test, the inconsistencies in the process raise questions.
“I think we’re all very confident that Jannik didn’t do anything, but the conflict that maybe he didn’t have to sit out while they’re not 100 percent sure what happened, I think that’s the question that needs to be answered here,” Federer said. “But look, it is, and we need to trust the process and whoever is involved here.”
Admitting he was “concerned” he might be banned, Sinner said he hoped he would be cleared because he believed the small amounts of clostebol in his system strengthened his claim of inadvertent contamination.
“I was definitely worried, because it was my first time, you know, and hopefully my last time in this situation, position,” Sinner said. “There is also a different part that we have to see is the sum I had in my body, which is 0.000000001, so there are many zeros before the 1 appears.
“So I was worried, of course, because I’ve always been a player who worked very carefully, very carefully in this. I believe that I’m an honest player on and off the field.”
ITIA said it had conducted numerous interviews with Sinner and his team as part of its investigation. ITIA referred the case to an independent tribunal to consider specific facts and determine what error, if any, Sinner had in the direct assessment.
After the trial on August 15, the independent court decided to find that “There is no mistake or negligence used in the case, resulting in no qualifying period.”
However, Sinner’s results, prize money and ranking points from the ATP Masters 1000 event in Indian Wells, where he tested positive for HIV in a clostebol tournament, are being released.
“It’s not something we want to see in our sport, these types of stories, regardless of whether you did something or not, any player did it,” Federer told Savannah Guthrie on the Today show. “It’s just noise we don’t want.”
