Why WADA's appeal in the Jannik Sinner doping case gets to the heart of anti-doping priorities

At the heart of the doping trial against Jannik Sinner, the best men's tennis player in the world, is an existential debate about the monitoring of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) in sport.

Are the primary goals to catch cheaters and prevent athletes from gaining unfair advantages over their teammates? What happens when World Anti-Doping Code enforcement authorities find violations but agree that an athlete did not obtain or pursue such an advantage?

Numerous athletes have found themselves in the middle of this debate and now it is the turn of the two-time Grand Slam champion: an anti-doping agency is suing another anti-doping agency before the International Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Apologies to anyone who has a feel for the alphabet soup of sports bureaucracy.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) appealed the decision of an independent panel convened by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), which found the 23-year-old was “not at fault or negligent” after twice had tested positive for Clostebol. an anabolic steroid on the WADA list of banned substances. The panel still found that he had committed two anti-doping violations.

WADA said in a statement that it is not seeking to disqualify Sinner's results, apart from his advance to the semifinals at the BNP Paribas Open, held in Indian Wells, California (the ITIA).

She objects to the dismissal of any blame attributable to Sinner because it is “not correct under the applicable rules.”

WADA therefore accepts the final decision that Sinner did not dope intentionally, but still underlines its own credibility by seeking to change the terms of this decision.

Sinner, who recently won the US Open, could be banned from tennis for one to two years if WADA wins.

Sinner was informed of his positive tests at the end of March. According to ITIA, he tested positive for clostebol on March 10 at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, and again on March 18 between that tournament and the Miami Open. The results led to mandatory interim suspensions, which Sinner appealed.

At each appeal and in a final hearing on August 15, three separate independent tribunals convened by the ITIA and led by Sport Resolutions, an arbitration firm, accepted the Italian world No. 1's explanation for the positive tests. His physical therapist Umberto Ferrara had brought Trofodermin, an over-the-counter healing spray with Clostebol, to Indian Wells. His physical therapist, Giacomo Naldi, cut his hand and used the spray on that cut. Naldi then performed massages on Sinner, which resulted in the substance passing from Naldi's skin onto Sinner's skin.

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These court decisions meant that Sinner first avoided the two interim suspensions and then, at the final hearing, a “period of suspension,” which would have been a dreaded, reputation-damaging ban. The first two successful appeals also resulted in his case remaining confidential until the final hearing under ITIA protocol.

At the last hearing, the independent court ruled that Sinner was not to blame for the positive tests. It said he received no benefit from Clostebol, a notorious and antiquated anabolic steroid that East Germany used in state-sponsored doping programs in the 1970s and 1980s.

“Even if the administration had been intentional, the small amounts likely administered would not have had a relevant doping or performance-enhancing effect on the player,” said Professor David Cowan, a member of the tribunal who explained the ruling.

However, because the Clostebol was in his body, Sinner was found to have committed two anti-doping violations, for which the ITIA stripped him of his ranking points, prize money and results from Indian Wells. However, a suspension was not sought.

After playing under secret conditions for six months, Sinner won the US Open, the first tournament after the ITIA published the case and final verdict.

But three weeks later, on Saturday, WADA published its appeal against that ruling. The case now goes to the CAS, which is usually the final arbiter in sports doping litigation.

Jannik Sinner is currently playing at the China Open in Beijing. (Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)

Sinner is none too pleased. In a statement released on Saturday, Sinner noted that he had already gone through three separate hearings there, which confirmed that he had not intentionally broken the rules or competed unfairly.

“I understand that these matters need to be thoroughly investigated to protect the integrity of the sport we all love,” he said. “However, it is difficult to see the benefit of asking a different group of three judges to re-examine the same facts and documents.”

Sinner and WADA are now in difficult territory. Since the ITIA announcement, Sinner has been indirectly criticized for perceived preferential treatment – some of it more derogatory than verifiable. Tennis is a sport with double standards, from better court allocations and higher entry fees for higher-ranked players to a keener ear from tennis authorities to the sport's most important issues. As world No. 1, Sinner has more powerful and more readily available legal resources than most tennis players in a similar situation.

While in other anti-doping cases players have been provisionally banned for many months during ongoing investigations, the so-called silence about his case does not remain an element of preferential treatment, but rather compliance with the ITIA's investigative process.

Other Italian tennis players who tested positive for the same substance as Sinner were suspended and found guilty. Stefano Battaglino, another Italian tennis player, was banned for four years in 2023. Battaglino was unable to prove that his positive Clostebol test was accidental after it was detected in a random drug test at an ITF event in Tunisia.

Jannik Sinner lost to Carlos Alcaraz in the Indian Wells semifinals, where the first positive test was recorded. (Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

This is one of the most complicated factors. Italy has a widespread and widely recognized problem with athletes testing positive for Clostebol because it is sold freely in the country as an ingredient in medical products – including the Trofodermin that Ferrara brought to Indian Wells. WADA has stated that about half of the cases of positive Clostebol tests come from the country.

WADA, meanwhile, is grappling with the fallout from its decision not to investigate 23 Chinese swimmers who tested positive for the same heart drug seven months before the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. The swimmers were allowed to compete and several of the athletes won medals. In its statement on the case, issued in April 2024 following what it described as “some misleading and potentially defamatory media reporting,” the agency said it was “unable to refute the possibility that contamination occurred.” “The source” of the positive result is testing.

Travis Tygart, the head of the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) and a key figure in the cases of Lance Armstrong in cycling and Alberto Salazar in track and field, on Saturday linked their situation to WADA's decision on Sinner.

“It is inconceivable that WADA leaders would appeal this case when the sport of tennis clearly follows the rules but does nothing when China sweeps under the rug 23 positive tests that undeniably violate the rules,” Tygart said .

“As the anti-doping authorities hold athletes to high standards, it is high time that decision-makers at WADA do the same.”

WADA responded to this statement by criticizing Tygart. “It is strange that Mr Tygart would comment on a case when he is not involved, has not reviewed the file and does not have all the facts to hand. It is equally strange that he then compares it to a completely unrelated case in which he was also not involved and does not have the facts,” said James Fitzgerald, a WADA spokesman. “It might be more productive for Mr. Tygart to spend his time addressing the problems in the U.S. anti-doping field rather than constantly commenting on what is going on elsewhere in the world.”

WADA recognizes that the detection of clostebol has improved significantly in recent years due to technological advances allowing detection of lower concentrations.

This has helped uncover some cases of doping, particularly when it comes to new substances that are difficult to detect. But it has also led to the capture of innocent athletes who, judging by detected levels of a particular substance, are not doping – at least not the substance that triggers a positive test.

In this case, WADA's rules still appear to be keeping pace with testing progress, creating an imbalance between science and administration as athletes see their careers and reputations at stake.

(Top photo: Lintao Zhang / Getty Images)