“Jannik Sinner’s disqualification is inevitable” – Former tennis pro makes shocking claims about Italian doping case

Former tennis player Daniele Bracciali says it is clear Jannik Sinner will be banned from the sport after the world anti-doping body’s appeal of his doping case was heard by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Earlier this year, Sinner was cleared to compete after the International Tennis Federation ruled that the Italian’s Clostebol contamination was accidental.

Sinner tested positive twice for the banned performance-enhancing substance Clostebol in March this year. The first test came at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, where the Italian finished as a semi-finalist. The following one was made immediately after the ATP Masters 1000 event.

The ITIA decided to suspend Sinner, but the Italian legal team proved that he was accidentally exposed to Clostebol by Giacomo Naldi, who was his physiotherapist at the time. The suspension was lifted and Sinner resumed playing.

ITIA subsequently appointed an independent inquiry team to investigate the matter thoroughly. The panel concluded that the world number one was not responsible for the contamination, allowing Jannik Sinner to continue playing on the ATP Tour.

However, these events were initially kept secret and announced ahead of the US Open in August 2024, causing panic and anger in the tennis world. The dispute appeared to have calmed down in the following days, but the Italian’s situation became more difficult when WADA intervened and referred Sinner’s case to CAS.

CAS has now confirmed it will hear WADA’s appeal, but have yet to give an exact date. According to former world number 49 Daniele Bracciali, who was found guilty of match-fixing in 2018 and was banned from tennis for life, Sinner will face suspension as the case now involve the WADA (via Mowmag.com).

“How will the Sinner case end? Unfortunately, knowing the environment of WADA and ITIA, I believe that a disqualification will almost certainly arrive. It is not right to disqualify a tennis player if it is found that he has not taken drugs to improve performance and in the case of the Italian it really has not changed anything. Objective responsibility in this situation is a real scam.”

Sinner was surprised by WADA’s appeal and initially believed that the decision of an independent panel appointed by the ITIA had finally resolved the dispute.

Jannik Sinner on hearing WADA appealing his doping case, said: “I will collaborate like I did”

Shanghai Masters Jannik Sinner was asked about WADA’s involvement in his doping case. The Italian expressed his surprise at the conduct of this event.

“I’m a bit surprised, but in another way, I knew that potentially this could happen. It happened, I’m still surprised, but I will collaborate like I did before. But I’m very confident that it comes out very positively, or I would be very, very surprised if it would be the opposite side. You know, it’s not a situation where I feel comfortable in, that’s for sure because I thought it was over,” said Jannik Sinner.

The world number one won the Rolex Shanghai Masters title but recently withdrew from the Rolex Paris Masters. His next match is scheduled for the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin, Italy in November 2024.