I know I’ve done nothing wrong, says Sinner – but locker-room murmurs linger

The conventional theory was that Jannik Sinner would be uneasy sitting down in a room full of international journalists to field questions on his two failed drugs tests. The reality was that the Italian world No 1 looked as if the weight had been lifted from his shoulders as he openly discussed a five-month-long case that only came to light over the past week.
Sinner is free to compete here at the US Open after he was cleared by an independent tribunal of any wrongdoing, but it has been a fraught period behind closed doors ever since the notification came through that he had tested positive for the banned anabolic steroid clostebol in March. Only on Monday did the 23-year-old discover that the tribunal had accepted the explanation of contamination through a bare-handed massage by his physiotherapist Giacomo Naldi.
“It’s not ideal before a grand slam but in my mind I know that I haven’t done anything wrong,” Sinner said. “I had to play already for months with this in my head, but just remembering myself that I haven’t done really anything wrong. I always will respect these rules of anti-doping.
“I’m just happy that it’s finally out because it’s a kind of relief for me and my team. The preparation for this tournament has not been perfect because of certain circumstances. The result is what I was waiting for. Now it’s out and that’s it.”
Amid the standard practice sessions and physical training, Sinner has had a more unusual task to perform in recent days, informing both Naldi and his fitness coach, Umberto Ferrara, that their services are no longer required. This is the price that Naldi and Ferrara must pay for causing their star client to be at risk of a two-year drugs ban when he is at his prime.
The chain of events started in February with the pharmacy purchase of a healing spray by Ferrara, which was then borrowed by Naldi to treat a cut on his own finger. Inexcusably, Naldi subsequently used his bare hands for regular full-body massages of Sinner during the Indian Wells Open in March, contaminating him with the banned substance.
While Naldi and Ferrara will both be deeply relieved that Sinner was cleared this week to continue playing, it was inevitable that their respective positions were untenable. Their actions ultimately have caused a dark cloud of controversy that is still hovering over Sinner at Flushing Meadows despite his victory of sorts.
“Because of these mistakes, I’m not feeling that confident to continue with them,” Sinner explained. “The only thing I just need right now is some clean air. I was struggling a lot in the last months.”
Such is the genteel nature of tennis fandom that Sinner has not received the boos from spectators that would have likely come had he been a footballer walking out on the pitch in front of the opposing supporters after such news. By all accounts, Sinner’s practice sessions on site this week have been as popular as ever with the selfie seekers and autograph hunters.
It is hard, though, for Sinner to escape the awkward murmurs in the locker room. Ever since the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) announced on Tuesday that Sinner had been cleared of any wrongdoing, it has been the dominant and overriding topic of conversation between players, coaches, agents and anyone else who is on this sporting equivalent of a travelling circus.
Some, such as Nick Kyrgios and Denis Shapovalov, have taken to social media to air their critical thoughts and further fuel the storm. “Tennis Twitter is absolute carnage at the moment,” Andy Murray posted on Friday as he sat back at home observing it all with his feet up in retirement.
Whether this has any on-court impact on Sinner remains to be seen when he plays his first-round match against America’s Mackenzie McDonald on Tuesday. While he had no issue with distractions in winning the recent Cincinnati Open, which took place in the same week as his hearing in London, the intense scrutiny of others is something new given that the saga took place without public knowledge for several months.
This is one of the major points of contention surrounding the Sinner case, that it has essentially been a secret. Some have cited previous examples, such as the Simona Halep case, in which provisional suspensions have been announced by the ITIA soon after a player has been notified of a positive test. A hearing is then set many months down the line.
“I like Jannik,” Dan Evans, the former British No1 who received a 12-month ban for cocaine use in 2017, said. “It is not his fault. He has put his case forward and it has been accepted. There have been other players who have waited. I think he is lucky how quickly the case came forward.
“I have an opinion on the ITIA and how they go about their business is not good. I think they are an organisation that has been thrown together and it is pretty amateurish stuff. The whole thing has just got a bit messy.”
Chris Evert, the former world No1, also expressed concerns about the system. “I do think that they [the anti-doping authorities] protect top players. By protecting, they’re going to keep the secret for a couple months. They’re going to keep certain things secret if you’re a top player because they don’t want the press, the player doesn’t want the press. I do think there’s some protection there, than if you were Joe Smith ranked 400 in the world.”
This is an understandable query, yet one that is simply answered through the ITIA’s rulebook. Sinner took up his right to immediately appeal against two provisional suspensions before they were announced, with an independent arbiter acknowledging the balance of probability in this particular case given the small trace of clostebol detected. No doubt it helped too that Sinner has the financial resources to deploy experienced lawyers to the matter.
In this day and age, Sinner has to come to terms with the fact — however questionable it is — that many people have made a judgment on his case by reading brief posts on social media rather than the full 33-page document issued by the ITIA. Kyrgios, for example, wrongly stated that the failed test had been blamed on “massage cream”.
“Obviously this notification might change a couple of things, but whoever knows me very well knows that I would never do something that goes against the rules,” Sinner said. “About my reputation, we will see now moving forwards because I can’t really control this. Let’s see.”