Simona Halep disqualified for 9 months for doping, because the sentence scares Jannik Sinner (but there is a difference)
Former women’s world number one Simona Halep has been banned for nine months for doping. The Romanian champion was disqualified by the CAS of Lausanne who accused her of “careless use of a contaminated supplement”.
In the ruling of the Tas of Lausanne which led to the suspension of the 33-year-old player (victory at Roland Garros and Wimbledon in her career) there is talk of “careless use of a contaminated supplement” than the Romanian he would have hired under the advice of his personal physiotherapist “who is not a doctor or clinician”.
In various passages of the ruling, the Tas says: “The question that this Tas Panel asks is why, in such a highly professional environment, questions related to possible anti-doping problems are entrusted to people who have no experience in this sector. … The athlete should have understood the limitations of his physical therapist’s qualifications and the fact that a tournament was being played in the United States, on a continent far from his own, cannot justify not consulting a specialist and entrusting such a delicate task to a person without the necessary medical skills.”
Let’s recap: Simona Halep was banned for four years by Itia with documented accusations of intentional doping through the use of the prohibited anti-anemic Roxadustat, use also validated by an irregular biological passport. But the Tas has scaled back talking about careless use and therefore the stop from competitions has also been drastically reduced.
Similarities that could scare Jannik Sinner in view of the Wada appeal to the Tas on the Clostebol case?
However, there is a difference that works in favor of the Italian tennis player: if for Simona Halep we are talking about a supplement taken by her recklessly (provided to you by your physiotherapist), in the case of Jannik Sinner we are at a level of total unawareness. The blue tennis player didn’t take anything, but the billionth of a gram of Clostebol was due to totally external circumstances.
And the note from the International Tennis Integrity Agency that declared his innocence was clear. Let’s go and read it again: «After a thorough investigation, Itia and Jannik discovered that the inadvertent contamination of Clostebol occurred through the treatment he received from his physiotherapist. His personal trainer purchased a product, easily available without a prescription in any Italian pharmacy, which he gave to Jannik’s physiotherapist to treat a cut on the physiotherapist’s finger. Jannik knew nothing about this and his physiotherapist did not know that he was using a product containing Clostebol. The physiotherapist treated Jannik without gloves and, together with various skin lesions on Jannik’s body, caused the inadvertent contamination.”
We remind you that three referees will be called to decide the Sinner case at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (president John Coates): one nominated by Wada, one by the tennis player’s defense, and a third chosen directly by the court. The ruling will not arrive very soon: probably at the beginning of 2025, perhaps in February (in that case therefore after the Australian Open in which the Italian tennis player will defend the title won this year in the final against Medvedev). The final decision of the CAS will be binding, although each party has the right to appeal to the Swiss Federal Court within 30 days.
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