ANALYSIS: The story of Jannik Sinner's doping scandal as fans and players wait with anger

We’re days away from the US Open, but nobody is talking about it right now because everybody is talking about Jannik Sinner and the doping saga, which was unknown to most of us until Tuesday.

Jannik Sinner has been one of the best players in the world this year. The Italian opened his season amazingly earlier this year in Australia and kept it going for a while. The clay season wasn’t as strong for him, but that was mostly because he was outplayed by some other players.

He never really dropped in level, and honestly, the only disappointing outing for him was Wimbledon. He also dealt with some physical problems along the way, which is why he missed the Olympics. The Italian returned recently, and he did well. He recently won a trophy at the Cincinnati Open, proving his level is still there.

He’ll certainly be in the mix to win at the US Open. Nobody is talking about his chances at the US Open or his recent triumph in Cincinnati. The reason is very simple: We just found out that he tested positive for banned substances back in March. If you’re wondering how is that possible since he kept playing all this time, well, we’re going to break it down in detail.

In March of his year, Sinner was competing at Indian Wells and playing well. His run would end at the hands of Carlos Alcaraz, but what happened behind the scenes was far more interesting. He tested positive for a banned substance, which generally should result in an immediate suspension. That’s how it happened in the case of Halep because the moment she tested positive for the second time, she was suspended.

Sinner followed the procedure and provided another sample, which was again positive for the banned substance. He wouldn’t get suspended, though, because the Italian could track that substance's source in record time. It was in an over-the-counter medicine his physio purchased in Italy and used on his hands before giving Sinner a massage. The medicine is readily available in Italy and is used for minor cuts and bruises, which the physio dealt with. During the massage, the physio seemingly transferred it accidentally onto Sinner.

The amount found was negligible, and it was concluded that it was not in line with the amount expected from someone who was using it to boost their performance in any way. That and the simple explanation of how it happened saved Sinner from getting provisionally suspended. The ITIA (International Tennis Integrity Agency focused on enforcing anti doping suspensions) believed him and decided against suspending him from the sport during the investigation, which is generally standard procedure.

Generally when you have a situation like this the player is unsure how the drug got into their system. There needs to be a thorough investigation and while that’s going on they usually sit out. Sinner didn’t. You might wonder how different that is to a case like Halep, and it’s very different because she was suspended while the investigation was going on. So what’s the difference? Well, the way Sinner turned over an explanation, which made sense to the ITIA and the amount, made them make a judgment call. He was the breakout Star of the Year, and the ATP heavily promoted him. It would have been a terrible time for a suspension to happen.

Whether any of that is related or not, we’ll let you decide on your own. In any case, Sinner wasn’t suspended and was allowed to continue competing. We assume that the Italian was rigorously tested in the coming months to ensure that it was truly accidental contamination. At the same time, an independent investigation was going on to confirm that Sinner’s story was true.

The findings of that investigation were published, which kicked off this whole thing. I assume none of what had happened behind the scenes was ever disclosed to the public or fellow players. We all found out yesterday when statements were made by the ITIA, ATP, Sinner, and the rest.

That’s another thing that created a lot of discussion. Why was the whole thing kept private? It’s not really something that’s generally kept private, as many other instances show. We generally find out immediately when a player tests for a substance, but not this time. Could it possibly have something to do with Sinner being allowed to compete during the investigation because the ITIA found his explanation credible? Possibly.

The whole thing has been quite bizarre. The way Sinner got the banned substance in his body was utterly bizarre, though not unheard of. The way the ITIA reacted to the thing has been quite interesting as well. The way the whole thing was kept under wraps by everybody involved is also an interesting choice, and many fans were left stunned and puzzled at the same time.

There was just an overflow of information and many struggled to put all of the pieces together. We know what happened now, but it still remains an utterly bizarre situation. What matters most is that Sinner was allowed to compete and competed during this time. He was also cleared by the independent investigation, which also happened before this was made public knowledge.

The only punishment Sinner received was being stripped of his points and prize money from Indian Wells, which is a rule enforced whenever a player tests positive for a banned substance regardless of what happens after. He will be allowed to compete now without any consequence because he didn’t intentionally dope. The whole process, though, left a lot of people wondering because we’ve heard some horror stories before regarding the ITIA and some of their practices.

A lot of fans were angered by how Simona Halep was treated during her trial, and now they’re channeling that anger toward Sinner. And after all, some people did ask the perfect question regarding all of this. Would this whole process unfold the way it did if the player in question was somebody ranked 950th in the world and not Jannik Sinner, the world number one? That is indeed a very good question.