Sinner's rollercoaster journey: from doping accusations to Grand Slam victory

World number one Jannik Sinner has now certainly avoided a potential ban in a doping scandal after the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has reportedly restrained from appealing against the verdict of the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA). The 23-year-old is already regarded as one of the best players currently playing in men’s tennis in the singles category, along with Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz and Serbia’s Novak Djokovic.

Sinner has been going through a bit of a mixed roller coaster ride in the recent past. The San Candido-born, on Sunday, lifted his second Grand Slam title after beating America’s Taylor Fritz in the final of the US Open in straight sets with a score of 6-3, 6-4, 7-5. A few weeks before that, Sinner was in the news for all the wrong reasons as he narrowly escaped a ban after testing positive for banned substances in two doping tests.

The ITIA, in a detailed statement, explained the reason behind accepting the player’s counsel’s statement where they claimed that the presence of the banned substance Clostebol in the player’s sample in minimal quantity was because of the cream he received from one of his coaching staff to recover from an injury. That decision received severe backlash from a certain part of the tennis community, including some current and former players, who asked for a similar treatment of all players who are involved in such incidents.

As per the recent report published by the Italian media outlet Corriere della Sera, things are going to get even better for Sinner as WADA has decided not to appeal against the decision of ITIA. The report stated that the WADA had three weeks to apply against the decision of the ITIA in the International Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), but they decided against it. The decision was reportedly taken because Sinner’s case is very similar to that of a Brazilian swimmer in 2019.

Gabriel da Silva Santos also tested positive for Clostebol and was banned for one year by FINA. He appealed against it in CAS, claiming that the presence of the substance in his sample was because of the pillow he used at his brother’s place, which he visit often to sleep. According to the rules, the athlete ‘can have total confidence in their family members or in their closest staff, considering themselves safe from risks’. It was expected that Sinner would have taken the same plea as he his counsel took a similar plea in front of the ITIA as well.