Jannik Sinner, winner of the US Open and the Australian Open in January, still has to wait to see his doping affair concluded. The infinitesimal quantity of ‘Trofodermin’ containing Clostebol, a banned substance, used by Giacomo Naldi, who until a few weeks ago was his physiotherapist, to treat a wound on his little finger and then to massage Jannik without gloves during the Indian Wells tournament, is causing problems and a certain annoyance to the world number one in tennis.
Indeed, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), even if it has not yet presented an official appeal to the International Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) regarding the decision of the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) to clear Sinner of what is effectively a positive test for doping (in this case double in the space of eight days), based on article 13.2.3.5 (Appeal deadline for WADA) of the anti-doping code, still has 21 days to express its opinion. This is a paragraph that concerns Wada only.
The World Anti-Doping Agency has requested additional documentation from Itia, which was sent over the course of last week. Without knowing the delivery date, it is not possible to know exactly when the new deadline for filing an appeal with the CAS is set, but it will not exceed 10-15 days. Itia is an independent tribunal linked to tennis and, as written in the 33-page minutes of the hearing number SR/250/2024 signed by panel judges David Sharpe, Tamara Gaw and Benoit Girardin, Sinner «has no fault or negligence».
The mistake of using ‘Trofodermin’ cost both physiotherapist Naldi and athletic trainer Umberto Ferrara their jobs in Sinner’s staff, as he had purchased the drug in Bologna and then given it to Naldi to treat the wound.
Binaghi: “Sinner victim of third party accident”
“Sinner is the victim of an accident that is not his but of third parties”. This was stated by the president of the Italian Tennis and Padel Federation, Angelo Binaghi, speaking about the Sinner case and the request of the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) on the positivity of the Italian tennis player during the conference “The world of Tennis between sport and law” organized by the University of Bologna. Binaghi, regarding the request for further documentation, added “it does not worry me because it seems to me that the case has been completely explored in all its most particular aspects”, concluding that he is “confident, let’s give the competent bodies time to completely close the case”.
Cahill: “Sinner showed honesty and resilience”
“In Jannik’s team I am not the most important coach, who is Simone Vagnozzi, but I am the one with the most experience. In the last four months many things have happened within the group and many of these have fallen on my shoulders. I tried to keep the sense of things and Jannik’s focus on what were our objectives, I kept telling him that he had done nothing wrong and that whatever happened he had to keep his head up”. Thus, in an interview with ESPN one of Jannik Sinner’s coaches, Darren Cahill who on Sunday could not hold back the tears for the victory of the South Tyrolean at the US Open. “My reaction to Sinner’s victory is rather similar to that of a very exhausted old man”, explained Cahill who then spoke about the last few months: “We managed to get through this period, certainly not without stress – he continued – Probably the reaction I had after the victory was also due to that”. The Australian then spoke about his relationship with Sinner: “I also have to talk about Jannik as a person. My job was to help him mature and become the person everyone looks up to, a figure from whom children can draw inspiration. Even before the final I told him that the way he has behaved in the last few weeks has shown honesty and resilience, he must be very proud of himself. Now it’s right that he has fun, he deserves it so much.”