Rafael Nadal backed Jannik Sinner saying that the World No.1 didn’t intend to use the banned substance and was rightly not suspended.
World No. Jannik Sinner found backing from the legendary Rafael Nadal over his doping row. Nadal said he doesn’t think Sinner intended to use a banned substance and that the Italian tennis sensation didn’t receive preferential treatment when he was cleared of doping after testing positive twice in March for trace amounts of an anabolic steroid.
I trust that he wasn’t punished because those who judged this case determined quite clearly that there was nothing to punish. … I don’t believe the sentence has anything to do with him being No 1 in the world,” 22-time major champion Nadal said in an interview with “El Hormiguero” on Monday.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) announced on August 20 that Jannik Sinner’s positive test for a banned performance-enhancing substance was deemed unintentional, resulting from a massage by his physiotherapist. Consequently, Sinner avoided suspension.
When questioned about the incident in New York ahead of the US Open, Novak Djokovic acknowledged understanding why some players might perceive a double standard in tennis, implying that the ITIA’s decision may have raised eyebrows among his peers.
