The Curious Case of Jannik Sinner

This article aims to discuss Jannik Sinner’s current steroid violation dilemma without making a single corny joke about sin. Wish me the best.

World number one Jannik Sinner has found himself in quite a mess. Having tested positive for the banned steroid Clostebol in March (twice), he cooperated fully with the ITIA (International Tennis Integrity Agency). He was found to have ‘no fault or negligence’ in the substance entering his bloodstream. The case seemingly closed, short of some incoming flak from the court of public opinion, he accepted his penalty of lost prize money and ranking points from the Indian Wells event, seemingly having this brewing scandal safely resolved and behind him.

Not so fast, says WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency). Just when you thought tennis' challenge system was obsolete. WADA, the top dog in the tennis drug-testing world, challenged the ITIA's ruling of ‘no fault or negligence’, deeming it not appropriate under the existing rules and that the binding rule should be no significant ‘fault or negligence’, the term significant being the errrr, significant measure. If that sounds confusing, the difference in penalty is errr, not insignificant. With the contested ruling, Sinner’s case went from closed, with no further suspension merited, to a potential 1-2 year ban from all professional play hanging over his head.

And if you think that all sounds ridiculous, how Clostibel got into Sinner's system says hold my PED.

Sinner stated that his fitness coach, Umberto Ferrara, had brought an over-the-counter healing spray containing Clostebol to Indian Wells (the spray is available over the counter in Italy under the brand name Trofodermin). Sinner’s physiotherapist, Giacomo Naldi, cut his hand and then used the spray on that cut. Naldi then conducted massages on Sinner, which led to transdermal contamination from the Clostebol in the healing spray. Why the fitness coach possessed and transported internationally the tainted healing spray when he himself had no cut could use some clarifying. How either of them, elite trainers of a Italy’s most famous athlete, would not have known that the Italian product possessed a banned substance is a true head-scratcher, for Italian law states clearly products containing Clostebol must have a warning on their label.

The trainer and physio have been fired, but not instantly. Only months after Sinner’s predicament became public did he throw them under the... Fiat??? Why weren’t they fired immediately for such irresponsible transgressions? Sinner’s team better have some air-tight NDA’s with these guys. And if anyone sees Giacomo and Umberto cruising Lake Como in new Ferraris anytime soon, feel free to draw any nefarious conclusion you wish.

All suspicions and incredulity aside, Sinner’s story held up to scrutiny, except for one incredibly unfortunate detail in this bizarre saga.

Italy has had a decades-long doping crisis with, you guessed it, Clostebol!!!

Tremendous reporting here from one Edmund Willison. And check the date on this article. A full two months before Sinner’s case became public!!

And this Clostebol. What is it? 

Clostebol is an anabolic steroid. It is best known for its role in East Germany’s state-sponsored doping programs of the 1970s and 1980s. It shortens recovery time following intense workouts and allows for the quickened production of muscle mass, similar to testosterone. How such a powerful performance enhancing drug can still be an ingredient in over-the-counter healing balms throughout Italy is weird. How a trainer/masseuse based in Italy treating Italy's most accomplished and famous athlete wouldn't know about Clostebol’s uber-shady history and applied it unknowingly to said athlete strains all credulity.

So the issue at hand is the usage of a testosterone cream, a severe doping issue the sporting world’s been dealing with for some time.

Lets go back in time..

In 2009, former running great and US Olympics trainer Alberto Salazar was found to have exchanged emails with the brass of Nike, inquiring how much topical testosterone cream could be applied to an athlete’s skin before triggering a positive drug test. Victor Conte of Balco infamy admitted after being arrested by the FBI that he had been providing testosterone creams to the likes of Olympic medalist Marion Jones as well as numerous baseball players, including legendary SF Giant Barry Bonds, with Bonds’ trainer applying either the Cream or Clear gels upon Bonds rapidly morphing body. Dopers found that with daily minute usage, the active testosterone cleared the bloodstream so quickly athletes would get the benefits of the PED yet still pass a test the next day, as many did for years.

So before we keep minimizing Sinner’s positive test result because the amount found was so miniscule, microdosing topical testosterone has been a method for cheating for some time, with decades of science showing how small an amount an athlete can apply and not fail a drug test.

Why is this important? The cloud of PED scandal has hovered around all sports for decades now. Let's cut the bullshit. The next athlete to admit to knowingly taking a banned substances will be the first.

Baseball sluggers Mark Mcguire, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro all lying under oath before Congress about their PED use.

And the excuses. Maria Sharapova, Petr Korda, Justin Gatlin, Simona Halep, Marin Cilic, now Jannik Sinner. I won’t offend your intelligence by chronichling their alibis anymore than they’ve already offended mine. Of course, none of their excuses can hold a candle to Richard Gasquet’s all-timer, who tested positive for cocaine, allegedly from kissing a girl named Pamela.

I know polygraphs aren't perfect or legally binding, but why not have a policy in place where athletes can instantly clear their names or, better yet, the testing agencies will have a clearer idea of the veracity of the charged athlete’s explanations. Sure could clear up some of the confusion around these cases in a hurry.

For optics matter and the rush to judgement on social media as well as the court of public opinion complicates matters greatly. No better example than the rarely correct but never in doubt, Dumb and Dumber from Down Under, Nick Kyrgios.

I put the odds that Kyrgios understands the underlying science and protocols of a positive drug test at around zero, but lets leave it to our sport’s most unstable and unhinged to weigh in on this highly sensitive matter regarding our sport's health, welfare, and future.

But if we can pull the camera back some. What really is at stake here?

Science has this cool concept. It’s called a doomsday clock. Ushered in during the nuclear age, its largely symbolic. The clock represents how much time mankind has left before he does irreparable damage to Mother Earth. Obviously a little grim, but the doomsday clock as a metaphor can be applied to a variety of topics, not the least being sports.

When Lance Armstrong finally came clean, cycling's doomsday clock struck midnight. Cycling's demise wasn't just Lance, nor did it happen overnight, but his admission was the last straw, where even the most ardent fans of cycling finally stopped caring. The product they invested their finite energy in had become a fraud, no longer worthy of their devotion.

I refuse to ever deem elite tennis success a fraud, only a fool would attribute the other-worldly accomplishments of our sport’s best to some low grade performance enhancement. Tennis is far more complex than that. But why do we keep finding many of our sport’s best in trouble? True competitors don't seek chemical competitive advantages over their opponents. It grossly violates the spirit of what honest tennis competition is all about, which is an equal playing field for all. It's utterly indefensible to know, stepping on the court, that a player has an immediate advantage over their opponent because they had access to a better doctor, yet here we are once more, trying to finesse the line between ambition and ethics all over again.

But more than just cheating, when confronted with evidence of their wrongdoings, team crisis managers do their athletes a terrible diservice concocting such incredulous tales. The whole charade has grown as tiresome as it is predictable. How many times will a fanbase tolerate being lied to before it stops caring and moves on? Will tennis soon suffer the similar fate of cycling, track, boxing and baseball, once great sports tainted by the blind ambition of its best?  As I concluded my night's reading of Sinner’s predicament and its sheer incredulity, I couldn't help thinking how much longer tennis has before suffering a similar fate.

Though I have my doubts, I sure hope Sinner and his team’s explanations are all found truthful, for nobody wants to pay to watch a liar. Somehow the athletes think litigating and obfuscating is going to fix something. I don't see it this way, not when the health and welfare of our sport hangs in the balance. Tennis is bigger than any one player, but it's not bigger than a prolonged drawn-out doping scandal, especially in the present-day unforgiving climate of nonstop sensationalized media coverage that promises to never leave tennis be.

Tennis’ doomsday clock nears midnight. It approaches being too late, but there's a higher road that can be taken here. An industry wide candid discussion, a confession of one’s sins even (Dammit!! I failed) about the pressures young athletes face from parents, coaches and tennis federations to take actions in direct violation of the spirit of competition, all for a more significant piece of an already large pie. A discussion about losing ones moral center, of ambition and greed and crossing ethical lines all in pursuit of a prize.

That’s a big ask. It would require a level of honesty and integrity among our sport’s transgressors that if they possessed in the first place, we wouldn't be having this discussion. Again. But there’s too much smoke in tennis’ air, a destructive and possibly terminal fire can’t be far off.