It didn’t take long for Nick Kyrgios to give his verdict on Jannik Sinner’s three-month ban from tennis after his failed drug tests – and it will come as no surprise that it is damning.
Australian player Kyrgois has been the most outspoken critic of Sinner since he tested positive for the anabolic steroid clostebol last March.
World No 1 Sinner tested positive for the anabolic steroid clostebol last March, but the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) accepted that it was down to accidental contamination.
However, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has challenged the verdict and has asked for the Italian – who won last year’s US Open title shortly after the test was made public – to be banned from the sport for between one and two years.
Now it has been confirmed that ‘an agreement’ has been reached between WADA and Sinner’s team that will see him banned for just three months and crucially, he will be back in time to play in the French Open in May.
WADA accepts that Sinner “did not intend to cheat, and that his exposure to clostebol did not provide any performance-enhancing benefit and took place without his knowledge as the result of negligence of members of his entourage”.
Their statement revealed how they had reached their agreement with the Italian as it read: “Under the code and by virtue of CAS precedent, an athlete bears responsibility for the entourage’s negligence.
“Based on the unique set of facts of this case, a three-month suspension is deemed to be an appropriate outcome.”
Kyrgois was quick to question that decision, as he voiced an opinion many will share of what appears to be a ‘deal’ to avoid a longer ban.
“So WADA come out and say it would be a 1-2 year ban,” he wrote on Twitter.
“Obviously Sinner’s team have done everything in their power to just go ahead and take a 3-month ban, no titles lost, no prize money lost. Guilty or not? Sad day for tennis. Fairness in tennis does not exist.”
Former British No 1 Tim Henman rarely dips his toe in contentious tennis issues, but he agreed that the WADA/Sinner agreement left plenty of questions.
“First and foremost I don’t think in any way he has been trying to cheat at any stage, I don’t believe that,” four-time Wimbledon semi-finalist Henman told Sky Sports News.
“However, when I read this statement this morning it just seems a little bit too convenient.
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“Obviously having just won the Australian Open, to miss three months of the Tour and therefore to be eligible to play at Roland Garros, the timing couldn’t have been any better for Sinner, but I still think it leaves a pretty sour taste for the sport.
“When you’re dealing with drugs in sport it very much has to be black and white, it’s binary, it’s positive or negative, you’re banned or you’re not banned.
“When you start reading words like settlement or agreement, it feels like there’s been a negotiation and I don’t think that will sit well with the player cohort and the fans of the sport.”
Almost a year has passed since the failed doping test and Henman suggests the wait to reach this verdict has been too elongated.
“He tested positive in Indian Wells in March, a long time ago, and to have had this cloud over his head also emphasises how we need to get to these conclusions a lot quicker,” said Henman.
“From Sinner’s point of view, he will be very keen to serve his ban, draw a line in the sand and get ready for Roland Garros, which is such a big priority for him.”
This deal feels like a very convenient timeframe for Sinner and he will have plenty of questions to answer about this story for the rest of his career.
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