Doping case, former tennis player Radoux will judge Sinner at the Tas

He is the former tennis player Jacques Radouxa 55-year-old from Luxembourg, the president of arbitration of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAS) who will judge Jannik Sinner’s case on 16 and 17 April. In March 2024, the world tennis number 1 was found positive twice for an infinitesimal quantity of ‘Clostebol’, a substance banned by the World Anti-Doping Code. When tested during the Indian Wells tournament (March 10), the clostebol metabolite was present at a concentration of “121 billionths of a gram per milliliter (86 once the specific gravity of urine is applied)”.

On the morning of March 18, the second check, outside the tournament, the concentration was “122 billionths of a gram/milliliter (corrected to 76 when normal specific gravity was applied”. Sinner will have to appear before the Tas judges because the agency World Anti-Doping (WADA) has appealed the decision of the independent tribunal of the International Tennis Integrity Agency (Itia) which had deemed the Italian player’s positivity “free from fault or negligence”.

Sinner’s positivity emerged following the involuntary intake of the contents of an over-the-counter spray which in Italy, unlike other countries, does not require a medical prescription, ‘Trofodermin’. The player’s physiotherapist at the time, Giacomo Naldi, after injuring the little finger of his left hand, used the drug to treat the wound and subsequently, without gloves, treated Jannik for what was later classified as “a transdermal contamination”.

Wada did not consider the documentation provided by Itia to be sufficient and decided to appeal, asking for a sentence of 1 to 2 years against the South Tyrolean tennis player. The Sinner case is registered with the number ‘CAS 2024/A/10908’ and sees Wada appealing against the player but also Itia and the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The hearing as requested by the interested parties will not be public and will be behind closed doors. It has not yet been decided whether Jannik will be present at the hearing in Lausanne or not. Jacques Radoux is a Luxembourg lawyer, tennis player between 1987 and 1997 (in 1991 he was n.458 in the world ranking). The judging panel will be formed not only by the president, but also by Ken Alo, 66 years old, Israeli-American, a lawyer appointed by Wada, and by Jeffrey Benz, an American lawyer appointed by Sinner.

Sinner beats Tsitsipas in an exhibition match

Sinner, meanwhile, is increasingly ready to defend the title he won last year at the Australian Open. The world number 1 returned to the Rod Laver Arena on January 10th for the exhibition match against Stefanos Tsitsipas (no. 11 ATP), as part of the AO Opening Week presented by Herald Sun. Good feelings for the blue, who won in two sets – 6-3, 7-6(5) – always keeping the reins of the match firmly in hand. Already last Tuesday, Sinner had beaten – again in an exhibition – the Australian Alexei Popyrin with a score of 6-4 7-6(2), and today it was repeated against a tennis player, the Greek, who on that same court, in the first Slam of the year, had defeated him both in the quarter-finals of 2022 and in the 2023 round of 16.

Adelaide, the first Italian trophy of 2025 from Bolelli-Vavassori

Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori’s 2025 is off to a great start. The Azzurri, respectively number 9 and 8 in the world in doubles, beat the Germans Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz, number 10 and 11 in the specialty rankings, 4-6 7-6(4) 11-9, and won their fourth title in Adelaide in his career after those achieved in Buenos Aires, Halle and Beijing last year. Thanks to this result Simone Bolelli will improve his best doubles ranking, which dates back to August 2015, and rise to number 6.

The 39-year-old from Budrio has thus reached 15 career doubles titles on the major circuit, the fourth on hard court after the triumph at the 2015 Australian Open with Fognini (the first Italian couple to win a Slam in men’s doubles after Pietrangeli and Sirola at Roland Garros 1959), in Dubai in 2016 with Seppi and Beijing in 2024 with Vavassori. The Turin native instead celebrated his seventh ATP doubles title. The Azzurri, capable of eliminating the number 6 in the draw Edben/Vliegen in the quarterfinals and the world number 1 Arevalo/Pavic in the semi-final, recovered from down 2-4 in the tie-break match in the final. Thus comes the third victory in 5 direct matches against Krawietz/Puetz, who became the first German couple in the Nitto ATP Finals roll of honor in Turin last year after beating Bolelli and Vavassori in the group.