Mexico City.- He world number one tennis playerthe Italian Jannik Sinner, tested positive twice for a anabolic steroid in March and was docked points and prize money for winning the Indian Wells tournament in California, but will not be suspended because an independent tribunal determined it was not intentional.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency announced the case on Tuesday.
Sinner won the Cincinnati Open on Monday and is one of the favorites before the US Open, which begins next week in New York. The Italian debuted at number one in the ATP rankings in June and is considered one of the biggest stars of the new generation of tennis, along with Carlos Alcaraz.
He won his first Grand Slam in January at the Australian Open and played in the semi-finals of the French Open in June and the quarter-finals of Wimbledon in July before missing the Paris Olympics with tonsillitis.
During the Indian Wells event in March, Sinner tested positive for low doses of the metabolite Clostebol, an anabolic steroid typically used for ophthalmologic or dermatologic purposes. It is the same drug that led to the Dominican’s suspension from MLB’s San Diego Padres. Sinner tested positive again eight days later as part of an out-of-competition sample. He was provisionally suspended for those results, but successfully appealed the decision and was allowed to continue on Tour. According to the ITIA, Sinner claimed his result was due to a team member using an over-the-counter spray containing Clostebol to treat a minor injury and that the team member massaged him. The ITIA accepted Sinner’s explanation and determined the violation was not intentional. An independent panel held a hearing on Aug. 15 and “determined there was no fault or negligence and no period of ineligibility will result,” according to the ITIA.
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