Sinner was spared a ban by world tennis due to having taken the substance accidentally in a cream used by his masseurs.
“Positive in the test in March, innocent five months later: the Sinner case comes to light and raises questions,” said French sports daily L’Equipe.
The line was part of a webpage-leading article titled The Sinner Affair: Delayed Revelation and Numerous Questions.
The article went on to say “the ITIA (International Tennis Integrity Agency) announced Tuesday that the Italian Jannik Sinner … had tested positive for an anabolic steroid twice in March…”
“[He was then] declared innocent by an independent tribunal, Sports Resolution, according to which he was not to blame and did not commit any negligent act,” the article continued.
L’Equipe spoke of “a so far well-kept secret”.
The Athletic, an online offshoot of The New York Times sports desk, published an article titled Jannik Sinner receives anti-doping sanction after positive tests for banned substance clostebol, but did not make the story a lead item.
“An independent tribunal has ruled that Sinner bears ‘no fault or negligence’ for both positive tests, but Sinner has been stripped of his ranking points, prize money and results from the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells in March,” said The Athletic, without raising doubts about the sentence.
But Spanish sports daily Marca was more insinuating in its coverage.
Spells, a spray and accusations of favourable treatment was its web page’s leading title.
“The truth has come to light, Sinner tested positive, but he won’t be banned,” read the article.
Another headline in the same daily on the subject read: Tennis explodes after Sinner’s double positive tests. Bingo!
That second article continued: “Many tennis players are doubting the impartiality of the tribunal in weighing the sanction.”
Former Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios of Australia said on X: “Ridiculous, whether it was accidental or planned.”
“Two tests positive for a banned substance (steroid)...you should be out for two years. Your performances improved. Massage cream...yeah, nice.”
Former cyclist Stefano Agostini said there had been a “double standard” at work at the tribunal, stressing that he had himself been banned for 15 months for using the same substance in 2013.
In Britain, The Daily Telegraph was even more severe in its assessment of the case, saying that “the controllers of doping in tennis have lost all credibility for their silence on Jannik Sinner”.
The conservative daily also said “the Italian’s acquittal leads one to wonder if there is one law for superstars and another for normal players”.
But Sinner’s Australian trainer Darren Cahill told ESPN, “We stayed so calm because we believed that Jannik was innocent.”
ANSA
