"Prominent player": Jannik Sinner comes under fire in lawsuits against WTA, ATP, ITIA and ITF for systemic abuse

World number one Italy’s Jannik Sinner has been criticized in the recent lawsuit filed against the tennis governing bodies by the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) and 22 players for systematic abuse. The 23-year-old is currently serving a three-month ban after two failed dope tests last year.

Sinner tested positive for the banned substance clostebol in March last year but managed to escape any ban after The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) declared him innocent following a detailed hearing where his counsel claimed that the substance was available in the player’s sample because one member of the coaching staff had received a cream for the treatment of an injury.

WADA appealed against the ITIA’s verdict in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and demanded a two-year ban for the three-time Grand Slam winner. However, the issue finally came to a conclusion last month as WADA announced that they had reached an agreement with Sinner, which will result in the player remaining out of action for three months. After that agreement was announced, the former world number one and one of the co-founders of PTPA, Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, stated that there is a larger consensus in the locker room that rules are not equal for everyone.

In the recent lawsuit filed by the (PTPA) and 22 players for systematic abuse in the United Kingdom (UK), European Union, and United States district courts, Sinner was criticised without being named as a ‘prominent player’ who opted to stay silent about all these things.

The point number 245 of the lawsuit stated that: “The ITIA proved in August 2024 that its heavy-handed approach is arbitrary and selective. That month, the ITIA announced that Jannik Sinner, the top-ranked player on the ATP Tour, had twice tested positive for a banned anabolic steroid earlier that season. Unlike its dogged pursuit of other players, however, it accepted Sinner’s explanation that his physical therapist had accidentally applied a banned substance to Sinner’s skin during treatment. As a result of its immediate acceptance, the ITIA concluded that Sinner bore ‘no fault or negligence’ for his positive test and permitted him to compete in the 2024 U.S. Open, which Sinner won. There was no investigation that dragged for over a year into a prominent player who had not vocalized any issues with the cartel.”