Eurosport star Barbara Schett has called for more clarity in future doping cases amid the fallout from Jannik Sinner\u2019s three-month suspension.<\/p>\n
It was announced last week that world No 1 Sinner<\/a>, a three-time Grand Slam champion, would serve a three-month ban after twice testing positive for clostebol in March 2024.<\/p>\n The Italian was initially handed no suspension in August 2024 after being found of \u201cno fault\u201d by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), with the 23-year-old successfully claiming he had accidentally been contaminated by his physio.<\/p>\n This ruling was then appealed by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in September 2024 and the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS) was set to oversee their appeal this coming April.<\/p>\n However, WADA and Sinner have settled on a three-month suspension without the need for a CAS hearing, with the world No 1 banned from competing until May 4th.<\/p>\n That means he can return at his home event, the Italian Open in Rome, before playing at Roland Garros later in May.<\/p>\n The case has attracted attention from the tennis and wider sporting world as a whole, with Sinner, the ITIA, and WADA all facing criticism from some quarters.<\/p>\n Speaking to Kicker<\/em><\/a>, former world No 7 Schett<\/a> claimed that the manner of the settlement was \u201cstrange\u201d and called for WADA to introduce \u201cmore precise\u201d rules to avoid such controversy in the future.<\/p>\n \u201cThe news came surprisingly early for me, because it was originally said that a decision would be made in April,\u201d said Schett.<\/p>\n \u201cI find the wording interesting, that a joint solution was found. That sounds kind of strange. Is he guilty now or not?<\/p>\n \u201cWADA said that he did not intentionally dope and he was banned anyway. It\u2019s a bit confusing, but the three months are obviously good for him. The timing is ideal, because he can play again in Rome.<\/p>\n \u201cOf course, that caused a sh*tstorm, especially on social media, because everyone has an opinion these days.<\/p>\n \u201cPersonally, I believe his story. But what I would also like to say is that just because you know someone and like them doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019re innocent. But I really think it was a mistake on the part of his physiotherapist. And Jannik must now face the consequences.<\/p>\n Toni Nadal makes \u2018surprise\u2019 confession and slams players \u2018who are not very clean\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n Jannik Sinner\u2019s drug ban is wrong according to Andy Murray\u2019s former coach<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cIn my opinion, the problem is the opaque process and the way the WADA and the CAS handle things. Many players have the impression that they can now negotiate with the WADA about the length of their ban. Nobody knows what\u2019s going on anymore.<\/p>\n \u201cIn my opinion, the WADA needs to create more precise and stricter rules so that there is more clarity in future cases.\u201d<\/p>\n Sinner has not played since winning the Australian Open in January and was forced to withdraw from the Qatar Open once his ban was confirmed.<\/p>\n The Italian will also be unable to defend his Miami Open title next month and will miss further Masters 1000 events in Indian Wells, Monte Carlo, and Madrid during his suspension.<\/p>\n Schett was also asked about Iga Swiatek\u2019s case, with the five-time Grand Slam champion having served a one-month suspension after testing positive for TMZ in August 2024.<\/p>\n The Austrian admitted the two cases did not put tennis \u201cin a good light\u201d but further claimed that it needed to be \u201ceasier\u201d to understand rulings and processes regarding doping.<\/p>\n She added: \u201cIt is of course not good that a world number 1 was banned twice. This definitely did not put tennis in a good light.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat was strange about Iga was that her punishment was split. The whole system needs to be revised. It must be easier for journalists, tennis fans and everyone who loves the sport to understand the processes.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd if there is a positive test, the public should be informed immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n Read Next<\/strong>:\u00a0ATP Indian Wells 2025 Entry List: Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Alexander Zverev headline as two wildcards revealed<\/a><\/p>\n The post Top pundit\u2019s \u2018strange\u2019 verdict on Jannik Sinner ban: \u2018Is he guilty or not?\u2019<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Eurosport star Barbara Schett has called for more clarity in future doping cases amid the fallout from Jannik Sinner\u2019s three-month suspension. It was announced last week that world No 1 Sinner, a three-time Grand Slam champion, would serve a three-month ban after twice testing positive for clostebol in March 2024. The Italian was initially handed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=72"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=72"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=72"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=72"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}ATP Tour News<\/h2>\n