CLOSE CALL

Tennis No. 1 Blames Failed Drug Test on Massage

The steroid was determined to have entered Jannik Sinner’s body during a massage from his physiotherapist.

The world’s top tennis player, Italy’s Jannik Sinner, is no longer under suspicion of banned substance use after two positive tests. The BBC reports that back in March, during the Indian Wells tennis tournament, testing of Sinner showed traces of a steroid called clostebol. A follow-up test yielded the same results. Following the positive test, Sinner was suspended but appealed the decision and continued to play. Last week, the International Tennis Integrity Agency determined that the drug got into Sinner’s system accidentally through his physiotherapist, Giacomo Naldi. The ITIA said Naldi “had been applying an over-the-counter spray containing clostebol to their own skin to treat a small wound” and passed along the anabolic agent transdermally via “daily massages and sports therapy” to Sinner. “I will now put this challenging and deeply unfortunate period behind me. I will continue to do everything I can to ensure I continue to comply with the ITIA’s anti-doping programme. I have a team around me that are meticulous in their own compliance,” the tennis star said in a statement on Instagram.