Sinner, disqualification for doping? The Itia scenario

Jannik Sinner the new season has officially started. The Italian tennis player played his first match of the year in Australia against Alexei Poporyn, winning in two sets in an exhibition match and showing good physical condition in view of the first Slam of the season, theAustralian Openlaunching on January 12th. But if Sinner remains the big favorite on the field, outside he will have to face the final sentence for the doping case that concerned him.

Il Tas verdict on the appeal presented by Wada, which comes after a first acquittal by the International Tennis Integrity Agency, will arrive no earlier than Februarybut anxiety continues to rise as tennis players divide on the topic. She also spoke about the case Karen Moorhouse, ITIA CEOwho in an interview with Tennis365 exposed the risks which Sinner faces: “If you test positive for a banned substance, you start with a fine of four years. If you can prove it was unintentional, the sentence is reduced to two years. So, if you can prove that there was no fault, there is no sanction,” he explained. According to Moorhouse, based on the request from Wada, the minimum sanction for the Italian in the event of an unfavorable verdict would be a one-year ban .

“Furthermore, the penalty for a finding of ‘no fault or significant negligence’ is between a reprimand and a two-year ban. This applies to all cases involving a contaminated substance.” The Sinner case is incomparable with what concerned Iga Swiatek, former world number one disqualified a month after testing positive in an anti-doping test for trimetazidine, a banned substance: “These are the same rules and the same processes for each player, but all cases are different each other and each case is based on individual facts,” explained Moorhouse, “the cases can also be quite complex, so it is not fair to make comparisons, because the details I’m always there fundamental part“.