Italian tennis star Jannik Sinner is back to his winning ways after serving a three-month doping ban.
Still ranked world number one, Sinner returned at the Italian Open in Rome over the weekend.
After receiving a first-round bye, he beat Mariano Navone of Argentina in the second round in straight sets. Sinner is on a 22-match winning streak, which dates back to October 2024.
Context
In August last year, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) announced Sinner had recorded two positive tests for a banned substance at the Indian Wells tournament in March.
It said an independent tribunal had since ruled Sinner was not at fault.
Sinner tested positive for clostebol, a steroid derivative of testosterone. It’s banned due to its anabolic qualities, which can improve muscle growth.
Sinner’s team argued it entered his system accidentally, when his physiotherapist used a topical cream containing clostebol for a wound on their finger, before treating Sinner.
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The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) then lodged an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, arguing that the ITIA’s finding that Sinner bore “no fault or negligence” was “not correct”.
The appeal was never heard in the CAS. Instead, WADA and Sinner reached a case resolution agreement whereby he would be required to serve a three-month ban from the sport.
Sinner has been embraced by Italian fans in his return to tennis.
”It has been an amazing feeling to come [to the Italian Open] starting from the first practices with other players,” he said.
Sinner will play the Netherlands’ Jesper de Jong in the next round.
Aussies in action
Of the eleven Aussies (five women, six men) who started in the singles draw, only Alex de Minaur is still in contention. De Minaur is playing unseeded Bolivian Hugo Dellien in the Round of 32 tonight.
