Federer condemn the ‘sin’ of allowing Sinner to play despite failing dope tests

Tennis icon Roger Federer has had his say on the recent controversy surrounding world number one Jannik Sinner as he tested positive for a banned substance, not once, but twice, earlier this year.

The Italian tennis sensation, despite testing positive for the anabolic steroid Clostebol back in March of this year, has been allowed to continue to compete, winning both the Miami and Cincinnati Open, and is currently vying for his second Grand Slam title at the US Open.

The 20-time Grand Slam winner has now weighed in on this controversy on ‘Today’, saying: “It’s not something we want to see in our sport, these types of news, regardless if he did something or not, or any player did… It’s just the noise that we don’t want.”

The decision not to suspend Sinner by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) has been met with criticism, with many fans believing that the Italian has been given preferential treatment as past players facing similar situations have been forced to sit out while they are investigated. But the ITIA, after an inquiry, has found that the Grand Slam winner ingested the banned substance accidentally and will face no further investigation or punishment.

The retired great, Federer, regarding this unusual treatment, said: “I understand the frustration of ‘has he been treated the same as others?', and I think this is where it comes down to. And it lives with you. Every morning when you wake up, you think ‘is somebody at the door coming to test me?’, so, it’s really difficult."

The Swiss great then added: "I understand it’s a tricky situation. It’s the nightmare of every athlete and team to have these allegations and these problems because we fill out these forms all day, every day.”

The ITIA stated in a press release that Sinner has “no fault or negligence” for testing positive and that each time he tested positive he submitted successful appeals against his suspension, which is what has led to this controversy.

Sinner has since proven to the ITIA that the Clostebol in his system came from a member of his team who had been providing physiotherapy to him and had been using an over-the-counter spray to treat a wound that incidentally contained the banned substance leading to contamination. The scientific experts at the ITIA found this explanation to be a credible excuse for having the substance in his system.