Affair Clostebol: Why wasn't Sinner suspended immediately?

Novak Djokovic thinks that it is not fair, Aleksandar Zverev says that the agreement with the World Anti-Doping Agency is strange.

Jannik Sinner was suspended for only three months. In the spring of 2024, at the ATP Masters tournament in Indian Wells, it was established during training that he had the banned substance clostebol in his blood.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) therefore took him to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), demanding a one- to two-year playing ban. The court intended to hear the case in mid-March. However, the agency withdrew its request.

According to its own reasoning, it understood "that Sinner had no intention of cheating and that his contact with the clostebol did not produce an increase in his performance, and it followed without his knowledge due to the carelessness of his environment". The agency concluded that a three-month suspension was appropriate.

EPA-EFE/JOEL CARRETT

What is clostebol?

It is a steroid that promotes muscle growth and general physical performance. Clostebol was previously used by East Germany in the state doping of athletes. The largest number of cases of doping with this substance were discovered in Italy and Brazil. In both countries, a wound spray containing clostebol is available over the counter.

In 2016, Norwegian skier Tereza Johav tested positive for clostebol. It turned out that she had burns around her lips from too much exposure to the sun and that she had covered them with a cream that the team doctor had bought in the Italian Alps. Although it was about the Olympic winner in 2010, she was suspended for 18 months, so she could not participate in the Olympic Games in Pyongyang.

Why wasn't Sinner suspended immediately?

In these cases, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) suspended tennis players only temporarily. Sinner appealed and was successful. The ITIA accepted Sinner's explanation that his physiotherapist had used Clostebol spray for a wound on his own arm. He then massaged Sinner without gloves, resulting in "accidental contamination."

ITIA is an independent organization based in London. It was organized by the tennis associations ATP, WTA and ITF together with the organizers of four Grand Slam tournaments. The goal is to preserve clean tennis. ITIA had conducted an independent tribunal review Sinner's case. On August 15, it established that "there is no guilt or negligence."

What is Sinner's position in world tennis?

The era of the "big three" is slowly coming to an end. The Swiss Roger Federer and the Spanish Rafael Nadal have ended their careers, and the Olympic champion Novak Djokovic from Serbia is 37 years old and will probably retire soon.

Everyone believes that Sinner will succeed them worthy. In June of last year, he became the first Italian to reach the top of the world list. That year, he also won two Grand Slams, in Australia where he defeated Alexander Zverev in the final and in the United States.

What does the three-month sentence mean for Sinner?

The consequences are not great. Sinner will not be stripped of the titles or prize money he won last year. He is suspended until May 4th and will miss several tournaments. Therefore, he will lose the points he collected playing in the same period last year. It is a chance for the second tennis player on the list, Zverev, to push Sinner from the first place. Nevertheless, Sinner will participate in the next Grand Slam in Paris, which starts on May 25. Even at the tournament in Rome, two weeks earlier, he will be able to try out on clay.

What are the reactions to Sinner's settlement?

Other tennis players believe that the settlement is not fair. "It almost seems like you can influence the outcome if you're a top tennis player and you have access to top lawyers." "There is a majority of tennis players that I talked to in the locker room who are not happy with how the whole process was handled," said Novak Djokovic.

Zverev also thinks that this case is strange: "It's either - you didn't hide anything, so you shouldn't be suspended. But if you are guilty, then I think three months for taking steroids is not a suspension."

Djokovic also said that the players do not have enough trust in the World Anti-Doping Agency and the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA). Even in the case of the light sentence received by Iga Svyontek, criticism was heard against both organizations. Last August, the Polish tennis player tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine. She defended herself by claiming that she took the medicine for sleep problems after a long plane flight. ITIA believed and imposed a sentence of one month. And the World Anti-Doping Agency announced in January that it will not appeal this verdict.

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What do the experts say?

"What the Anti-Doping Agency has done means the end of the Anti-Doping System in its current form," said German pharmacist and doping expert Fritz  Sörgel. He warns of "devastating consequences": "Thus, the system loses its anchor. In the future, everyone will refer to the Sinner case and some others and will be able to ask for a lighter sentence for a positive doping test - as long as they can think of some thin excuse".

Moreover, Lars Mortsiefer, head of Germany's National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA), warns that this case could send the wrong signal. He said that athletes who violate the ban on doping may first try to settle with the World Anti-Doping Agency in order to get the shortest possible suspensions.