Sinner Doping Row: WADA Appeals to CAS

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has filed an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against the independent tribunal’s finding in the doping case of Italian tennis player Jannik Sinners. The player had been charged with rule violations owing to the presence of prohibited substances, i.e., metabolites of Clostebol, in his urine samples during his participation at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells and the Miami Open.

The Independent Tribunal, established by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) to determine Anti-Doping Rule Violations (ADRVs) committed under the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme (TADP), had absolved Sinner of the charges.

The Tribunal concluded that the player could rely on the provisions of Article 10.5 and that there was ‘no fault or negligence’ since the action of his physiotherapist/fitness coach, who treated his injuries during the event with the spray, Trofodermin, containing the prohibited substance, could not be attributed to him.

However, WADA, through an official statement, announced that it did not agree with the findings and has appealed to the CAS, seeking a period of ineligibility between one and two years. Baseball star Fernando Tatis Jr. had earlier been suspended from Major League Baseball in 2022 for the same anabolic androgenic steroid (AAS).