Top-ranked tennis player Jannik Sinner tested positive twice for an anabolic steroid in March, but he will not be suspended after the International Tennis Integrity Agency on Tuesday determined that the banned substance entered his system unintentionally through a massage from his physiotherapist. «I will now put this challenging and deeply unfortunate period behind me,» Sinner posted to Instagram on Tuesday. «I will continue to do everything I can to ensure I continue to comply with the ITIA's anti-doping programme and I have a team around me that are meticulous in their own compliance.» Sinner won the Cincinnati Open on Monday and will be among the favorites at the US Open, which starts in New York next week.
During the Indian Wells hard-court event in March, Sinner tested positive for low levels of a metabolite of clostebol, a banned anabolic steroid that can be used for ophthalmological and dermatological use.
It's the same drug for which San Diego Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr. was suspended by MLB. Sinner tested positive again eight days later in an out-of-competition sample.
He was provisionally suspended because of those test results, but he successfully appealed and was allowed to keep competing on tour.