Why the tennis world is threatened with an earthquake

The Jannik Sinner case goes before the CAS Sports Arbitration Court. WADA is calling for a long ban for the world number one from Italy. There is a lot at stake.

The tennis world continues to turn over the weekend as if nothing had happened. The ATP Tour posted highlights of its stars; They celebrated a sinfully expensively produced advertising clip for an absurdly well-paid show spectacle in Saudi Arabia. Each with one responsibility: the world number one Jannik Sinner. The Italian’s doping affair is entering the next round.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is appealing against the acquittal of the South Tyrolean, who tested positive twice, before the CAS Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The reasoning: Under the current anti-doping rules, sinners are completely guilty and were at least negligent when the banned steroid Clostebol entered his body. The consequence: “A ban of between one and two years”.

That would be nothing less than an earthquake in the insular scene of highly paid global stars; a severe punishment for the number one, for a 23-year-old who was chosen to shape an era that would bring unbridled growth to tennis even beyond the golden Federer-Nadal-Djokovic days. But after his return he would have to live with the label “doping offender”.

Sinner is still on the tennis court

There is also a lot at stake when the CAS reviews the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) decision. The case was passed on to an independent court, which punished the positive samples from the tournament in Indian Wells in March with the deduction of prize money and points, but did not want to find Sinner guilty or negligent. So he never had to sit out.

Even these days, while his case is making waves again, Sinner is on the pitch; on Saturday he was playing in Beijing against the Russian Roman Safiullin, when WADA published the objection that it had already submitted to CAS on Thursday. After his victory, he said he was “disappointed and surprised.” Three previous hearings had ultimately been “very positive” for him.

He later announced that he had nothing to hide, would cooperate fully, as he had done in the summer, and would provide “everything necessary to prove my innocence once again.”

However, he found it “difficult to see what use it would be if three other judges re-examined the same facts and documents.” He did not want to comment further on the ongoing proceedings.

Italian media defend Sinner

Others claim that. “WADA will stop Sinner,” wrote the “Corriere dello Sport” and accused the doping hunters: “Why was nothing done when the positivity of the 23 Chinese swimmers was discovered?”

In the opinion of “Tuttosport”, Sinner has “gotten into the evil cogs” of sports politics. Former Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios, a provocateur not only on the court, instead gleefully posted on Instagram: “Hahaha, maybe not so innocent in the end, huh?”

Both the ITIA and the Italian anti-doping authorities had accepted the first verdict, and WADA also sees no reason to allow sinners to sell results to the CAS since March. These include the Masters successes in Miami and Cincinnati, the victory at the grass tournament in Halle/Westphalia and the triumph at the US Open for his second Grand Slam title.

The responsibility for the positive samples still lies with the player and not with his physiotherapist, who lost his job in the Sinner team months after the tests. Eliminated because he had treated his hand himself with an over-the-counter steroid spray and his boss had caused the unfortunate situation in the first place. At least that was Sinner’s account, which the court followed.

Now the CAS judges will decide Sinner’s fate. He can continue playing until the verdict is reached, and no matter what the outcome: his results remain. After that, he could disappear from the tennis world’s highlight videos for a while.