An early “Emergency Mailbag this week”—we’ll be back Wednesday with our conventional Q&A—after the stunning news drop Saturday that left the tennis world buzzing, many angry and raised yet more questions around the integrity of sport, its anti-doping system and equal justice.
The upshot: Approached with the equivalent of a plea bargain with the World Anti-Doping Agency, Jannik Sinner accepted a three-month ban in a settlement. While the suspension will keep him out of action until May—and potentially result in a loss of the top ranking—it will, critically, allow him to miss no majors this year.
After Sinner submitted two positive doping tests nearly a year ago, WADA was seeking to ban the three-time Grand Slam champion for at least one year, appealing the International Tennis Integrity Agency decision not to suspend Sinner.
Before we break it down, the headline itself is offensive and makes for terrible optics. Since when do athletes “settle” doping charges?
Trying to incorporate as many questions and arguments as possible:
- The range of opinions is extraordinary here. But we all seem to agree that the process is not only deeply broken but now lacks any faith and fidelity from the players. That’s a huge problem.
- Tennis adopts WADA protocols as a condition for being an Olympic sport. How many more of these optically awful, credibility and reputation-shredding circuses does tennis endure before it either renegotiates with WADA or reconsiders whether Olympics eligibility is worth this level of stain?
- I didn’t get a straight answer when I tried to press the ITIA here. But can tennis negotiate the threshold levels? Rigorous testing is essential. So is making sure that the levels are not so low that inadvertent athletes are not testing positive for amounts of a banned substance so minuscule they provide no competitive benefit. (Yes, it looks like some relief and flexibility is coming in 2027, but that’s still almost two years away.)
- At least in tennis, penalties are problematic. The critical issue is “when,” not “how long.” As Roddick put it the other day, a one-week school suspension on the eve of spring break is not so harsh. The three-month suspension seems about right, given the no-fault finding. That the time was manipulated so the player misses no majors is really unseemly.
- There are facts that are damning to Sinner. There are facts mitigating his guilt. Doping is, by its very nature, ugly and messy and complicated … and the stakes are extraordinary. Reach your own conclusions. But those who see no nuance and only conspiracy—he is an irredeemable doper spared by a corrupt system/ATP/Italian mafia; no wait, he is squeaky clean and was railroaded by a corrupt system!—need to leave the chat. Reach your conclusion. But there is way too much complexity here for the kind of all-or-nothing binaries that drive social media but contribute little else.
- We can—and perhaps should—pick apart Sinner’s explanation. Members of his team, tasked in part with managing his anti-doping, are using a banned product for personal use? Not only that, the packaging explicitly warns of the doping qualities. Not only that, other athletes have recently popped for similar uses. And, then, after using the product to treat a cut, they give the athlete an ungloved massage? This goes beyond negligence. This is, at a minimum, a staggering level of malpractice. And upon first learning of the positive tests, hearing the explanation, Sinner kept these guys on his team for months? And yet …
- The ITIA has heard every alibi in the book. Contamination (which this was not). Mislabelling. Rancid ribeye. Tainted tortellini. These folks are nothing if not skeptical. But, after conducting an investigation, interviewing the parties independently, having cross-examination power, they reached a reasoned conclusion that Sinner had no knowledge, no negligence, no intent to cheat and received no benefit. And WADA accepted this conclusion, “that Mr 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.”
- WADA’s appeal was not on factual grounds but on the grounds that, under strict liability, there had to be a penalty—and the proposition that athletes have to be accountable to the acts of their support teams.
- One great mystery: Last fall, WADA took the unusual step of appealing the ITIA decision. Presumably it did so, believing it had a strong case. What changed so dramatically that WADA would offer a settlement that was, at minimum, a 75% reduction in time to be served (one year) … and offered in such a way that Sinner misses no major, nor even the Rome ATP event?
- Why didn’t WADA approach Sinner in September and say, “We need a 90-day penalty, otherwise we will appeal this decision to CAS”? It would have spared a lot of time and expense and bad publicity. But the system doesn’t work that way. WADA is a bystander until it lodges an appeal.
- I am, however, told the WADA settlement was offered and reached without the ITIA’s knowledge, much less consent. Given that the appeal was in response to ITIA’s findings, it is not problematic that ITIA can be cut out of the process.
- There are a lot of American swimmers—and Department of Justice lawyers—who will see this as capitulation by WADA and tied to the mishandling of the Chinese swimming investigation.
- A few of you brought this up (h/t @gernezdan among others) and asked for clarity and now eagerly await the courtesy of a response: Sinner’s ban started on Feb. 9. Per the ITIA, banned players are prohibited from taking part in official events. Yet Sinner was practicing last week on the official Doha Courts. Did he not, thereby, violate his own suspension?
- No two cases are exactly the same. But there are some analogues. And I don’t know how you look at the Sinner case—whether it is Nicolas Jarry or Simona Halep or Tara Moore, the athletes suspended for missing whereabouts—and conclude this is justice being applied equally and equitably.
- I have heard from players and former players privately. Others have spoken publicly, from Tim Henman to Jess Pegula to Kyrgios to the PTPA. Different people seize on different features. And I have yet to come across anyone who feels okay with this scenario. None feels that the process was clean, all parties acted honorably, and justice was done. That is a problem.
- A few of you mentioned Nick Kyrgios and his role. Was his crusade a factor in the Sinner/WADA settlement? No. But not unlike Pam Shriver w/r/t Elena Rybakina, it ought to be pointed out that he took a stance against a player, faced backlash and got a measure of vindication when officials (more or less) sided with his position. Might he have done this with reasoned analysis and not trolling with syringe emojis? Perhaps. But credit where it’s due. On the other hand …
- Someone I trust and respect, who has no proverbial skin in the game but is an anti-doping expert, submits that—despite all the current passion and criticism—this was a triumph for the system. His words not mine, but worth considering. The testing clearly works. The rules for a provisional suspension were followed. WADA ensured the strict liability standard was upheld. The player was able to demonstrate the course of the positive to the satisfaction of investigators. He was punished but handed an appropriate penalty, given the mitigating factors, low fault level and the finding of no intent/knowledge or material benefit. That’s a bit too tidy for me. And doesn’t explain the overall concern that, for well-resourced players, these are clearly negotiations, not trials. But I do think this charitable take is worth including for the sake of balance.
- We keep seeing references to this as a “resolution.” That seems like wishful, magical thinking. A lot remains unresolved here. Including how Sinner will now be perceived by his peers.
- This is a critically important story. For every troll there were 10 thoughtful points and questions. Let’s keep talking.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Did No. 1 Tennis Star Jannik Sinner Get Away With Doping? .
