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Kyrgios, Shapovalov's no-nonsense reaction to Jannik Sinner's clean chit after failing drug test: ‘Should be gone for…'

Aug 21, 2024 08:27 AM IST

Australian tennis star Nick Kyrgios called the whole fiasco ridiculous and said Jannik Sinner should be banned for a couple of years.

Tennis stars Nick Kyrgios and Denis Shapovalov have reacted to ATP world number 1 Jannik Sinner getting clean chit despite testing positive twice for the banned substance. The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) on Tuesday, announced that Sinner tested positive twice earlier this season for a banned substance, but the agency decided to clear him from the charges.

Jannik Sinner cleared of wrongdoing after failed drug tests(Getty Images via AFP)
Jannik Sinner cleared of wrongdoing after failed drug tests(Getty Images via AFP)

However, the world number 1 tennis star will be stripped of his results, prize money and the 400 ranking points he accumulated at Indian Wells, in accordance with the anti-doping rules in force.

"ITIA today confirms that an independent tribunal convened by Sport Resolutions has ruled that Italian tennis player Jannik Sinner bears No Fault or Negligence for two Anti-Doping Rule Violations under the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme (TADP)," said the agency in a statement on Tuesday.

Sinner provided an in-competition sample at the Indian Wells Masters on March 10, 2024.

In the test, his body contained the presence of a metabolite of clostebol, an anabolic agent prohibited at all times by the WADA, at low levels, according to the ITIA.

Meanwhile, a second sample was taken eight days later after the Indian Wells, and he once again got positive for low levels of the same metabolite.

Australian tennis star Nick Kyrgios called the whole fiasco ridiculous and said Sinner should be banned for a couple of years.

"Ridiculous -- whether it was accidental or planned," wrote Kyrgios on X.

"You get tested twice with a banned (steroid) substance... you should be gone for 2 years. Your performance was enhanced. Massage cream... Yeah nice."

Canada's Shapovalov also took a dig at Sinner with a post on social media.

"Can't imagine what every other player that got banned for contaminated substances is feeling right now."

Meanwhile, the tribunal convened by Sport Resolutions accepted Sinner's explanation. The premier tennis star clarified that clostebol entered his system through massages and sports therapy.

Sinner said his physio, Giacomo Naldi, applied an over-the-counter spray containing clostebol to his own skin to treat a small finger wound and then administered massages between March 5-13 without using gloves, according to the ITIA.

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