when the applause with which the men’s singles champion of the Mutua Madrid Open is rewarded has barely died down, the final phase of the countdown to the return of Jannik Sinner will begin. This Monday, May 5, after three months of a sanction that, sportingly, has not been a great disadvantage for him, he will once again be an active protagonist of professional men’s tennis. This last quarter he has been so passively. Shining by his absence, as they say. The sanction actually expired in mid-April.
Remember: Jannik Sinner, the world number one, the champion of the 2025 Australian Open, the 2024 US Open, four Masters 1,000 and the one who is expected to star alongside Carlos Alcaraz, mainly, in the battle for supremacy in the coming seasons, tested positive. The events took place during Indian Wells 2024. According to the official account, his physiotherapist gave him a massage with his bare hands. His physio had used clostebol and some of that substance passed into Sinner’s body. An infinitesimal amount, but enough to be sanctioned.
The controversy arose, more than with the sanction, with the process that was opened on it. This happened in March. In August 2024, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) made the positive test public and stated that there would be no further sanction than the withdrawal of points and prizes corresponding to that tournament because the positive test was considered to be involuntary. The problem was that in cases involving other players there had been immediate communication, precautionary sanctions and much harsher suspensions.
And the commotion was immediate: the ITIA justified its decision, but more controversial issues were opened, such as the fact that the tennis player immediately, and before the sanction was made public, presented allegations against the ITIA’s accusations. Finally, the World Anti-Doping Agency appealed the sanction, but there was no review of it because WADA and the player’s team reached an agreement: he accepted three months’ suspension, which has now expired. The ruling establishes the lack of intent on the part of the tennis player
Sportingly, the sanctioning process did not affect Sinner too much. From the time the case became public until he began serving his suspension, he won the US Open, the Shanghai Masters 1000, the ATP Finals, the Davis Cup and the Australian Open. But around him the commotion was constant. There have been many voices that have bet on his innocence and involuntariness, apart from pointing out that the amounts detected were insufficient to obtain a sporting advantage. But there were more, and from the world of tennis, who openly or veiledly spoke of double standards when it comes to judging cases, both in terms of their treatment and their sanction.
Among those voices has been that of Nick Kyrgios, who has directly said in many ways that the system has favored the number one. Or that of Simona Halep, whose career was dealt a mortal blow by a positive test for which she was partly exonerated, but two years later. Or Iga Swiatek herself, who spoke of the difficulties of modest tennis players without financial resources to defend themselves in cases of doping or betting. Or Alejandro Davidovich, who at this same Mutua spoke about the care that must be taken with the people you touch, lest they can ‘pass’ a positive. That in recent weeks Grand Slam doubles champion Max Purcell received an 18-month ban for a vitamin injection that exceeded the permitted limit has not helped to clear the air… In general tennis players discuss the ‘double standard’.
Sinner will return on favourable ground: at the Rome Masters 1,000. At the Foro Italico, a ‘bunker’ has been set up to favour the isolation of the tennis player, who will develop his first public training together with Jiri Lehecka, Rafael Nadal’s last opponent at the Mutua Madrid Open. Already in mid-April he was able to start private training with other professionals. He did so in Monte Carlo with Jack Draper, one of the finalists of the Mutua Madrid Open.
Sinner began the sanction as number 1 and will end it as number 1 in the world. Neither Carlos Alcaraz, although he won the Monte Carlo Masters 1000, nor Alexander Zverev, who did so in the ATP 250 in Munich, have been consistent enough to get close to his leadership. Recently, the tennis player declared, in an interview with RAI, that he considered the idea of retirement and that he still does not consider the sanction fair although he accepted it as a lesser evil.
Jannik Sinner will return to the courts in the middle of next week in the second round of the Italian Open, as he is exempt from the first round. The public will be on his side: he is playing at home and Italian tennis and sport have closed ranks in his defense. In the locker room, however, the atmosphere around him may be a little less complacent. It is still too early to know whether the ‘Sinner case’ is closed: the wounds opened by the alleged preferential treatment received seem deep.
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