Nick Kyrgios says Jannik Sinner should get two-year ban for two failed drugs tests

London: Jannik Sinner’s drugs ban reprieve has provoked a backlash from his fellow professionals, with Nick Kyrgios branding it “ridiculous”.

Kyrgios was among several players to hit out after the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) revealed the world No 1 had failed two doping tests a tribunal accepted were the result of contamination from a massage by his physiotherapist.

Jannik Sinner poses with the Australian Open trophyCredit: Getty Images

The ITIA confirmed on Tuesday that Sinner bore “no fault or negligence” over the presence in his urine of the banned steroid clostebol both during and after March’s Masters 1000 tournament at Indian Wells.

The Italian, who won his maiden grand slam at January’s Australian Open, was stripped of the 400 ranking points and prize money he earned at the tournament, where he was beaten in the semi-finals by Carlos Alcaraz.

But he escaped a ban of up to two years after an independent tribunal convened by the London-based Sports Resolutions accepted his explanation that the failed tests had been caused by a healing spray used to treat a cut suffered by his physio, Giacomo Naldi, who had unwittingly exposed him to the substance through what were regular full-body massages.

The panel also deemed the amount of clostebol in Sinner’s system, a billionth of a gram, had not had any performance-enhancing effect.

Kyrgios, who last year avoided a criminal conviction despite admitting assaulting his ex-girlfriend, posted his views on X.

The case against Sinner had not been made public until Tuesday, with the 23-year-old having been provisionally suspended after his failed tests only to apply successfully to have the sanction lifted.

Denis Shapovalov posted: “Different rules for different players.” He also drew a response from fellow former top-10 player Lucas Pouille.

Those players include former women’s world number one Simona Halep, Britain’s Tara Moore and the United States’ Jenson Brooksby.

Halep served 18 months of a four-year ban for blood doping before it was reduced to nine months on appeal after she was found to have unwittingly ingested a contaminated substance.

Jannik Sinner celebrates after winning the Australian Open final.Credit: Getty Images

Moore also served a provisional ban spanning 19 months before being cleared of being a drugs cheat in December when a panel ruled contaminated meat was the source of a failed test taken more than a year-and-a-half earlier.

Responding to the news about Sinner, Moore posted on X: Brooksby was banned for 18 months in December after being deemed to have missed three drugs tests in less than a year.

However Sinner received support from Australian John Millman, who pointed out that small amount of the drug that was in his system.

After his own provisional suspension was lifted, Sinner went on to play at both the French Open and Wimbledon, where he reached the semi-finals and quarter-finals, respectively, and to be crowned world No 1 for the first time.

The announcement by the ITIA came less than 24 hours after he won his fifth ATP title of the year, the Cincinnati Open, and less than a week before the start of the US Open.

Sinner said in a statement: “I will now put this challenging and deeply unfortunate period behind me. I will continue to do everything I can to ensure I continue to comply with the ITIA’s anti-doping programme and I have a team around me that are meticulous in their own compliance.”

His lawyer, Jamie Singer, added: “Anti-doping rules have to be very strict to be effective. Sadly the unfortunate consequence is that, occasionally, entirely innocent athletes get caught up in them.

“There is no question that Jannik is innocent in this case. The ITIA did not challenge that key principle. However, under strict liability rules Jannik is responsible for whatever is in his system, even when entirely unaware of it, as in this exceptional case.”

The tribunal’s ruling made Sinner the latest of a growing number of athletes to have escaped drugs bans after being deemed to have been innocent victims of contamination, including – controversially – 23 Chinese swimmers in the build-up to the recent Olympics.

London Telegraph