Jannik Sinner's doping case is already decided in court of public opinion, Italy's tennis chief says

TURIN, Italy -- A final verdict in the doping case involving top-ranked Jannik Sinner likely won’t come until early next year.

For the president of the Italian tennis federation, though, the case has already been won — in the court of public opinion.

“Apart from a few imbeciles, people all around the world understand what happened,” Angelo Binaghi said in an interview with The Associated Press at the ATP Finals on Wednesday. “No matter what type of decision is issued, there’s no doubt that Sinner is one of the cleanest and most honest athletes in world sport.”

Sinner is playing at home for the first time since it was announced before his U.S. Open title that he tested positive for an anabolic steroid in two separate drug tests in March.

A decision by an independent tribunal to clear Sinner of wrongdoing was appealed by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in September and the Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) is expected to make a final ruling on the case in 2025.

Sinner’s explanation was that the banned performance-enhancer entered his system unintentionally through a massage from his physiotherapist, who had used a spray containing the steroid to treat his own cut finger.

WADA is seeking a ban of one to two years for Sinner.

“It is WADA’s view that the finding of ‘no fault or negligence’ was not correct under the applicable rules,” WADA said in September.

Sinner said last week in response to a question from the AP that he has not been notified yet by CAS of a hearing date.

“No, we don’t know nothing yet,” Sinner said. “Look, I’ve been in this position three times now already, so it’s not that great a place to be. But it always came out very positively so I’m very positive.”

Still, a one- or two-year ban could have a major impact on Sinner’s career, even though he’s only 23.

“We’re confident that whenever the verdict is issued, he will be completely cleared,” Binaghi said.

Marco Lavazza, the vice chairman of coffee maker Lavazza, indicated the company plans to stand by Sinner as one of his main sponsors.

“The (doping case) shocked us. Then, like everyone else, we realized that it was a mishap,” Lavazza told Italian daily Il Giornale. “But I don’t have any doubts over who Jannik Sinner is.”

Sinner’s fitness trainer, Umberto Ferrara, provided the spray containing the banned substance to physiotherapist Giacomo Naldi. Sinner announced before the U.S. Open that he had fired Ferrara and Naldi but neither was sanctioned.

Sinner's fellow Italian player Matteo Berrettini plans to have Ferrara work with him in 2025.

“There was no premeditation on their part. Still, it was negligence,” Binaghi said of Naldi and Ferrara, adding that since Ferrara is a qualified pharmacist, his role in the case was “very serious.”

Meanwhile, Sinner — who claimed his first two Grand Slam titles at the Australian Open and U.S. Open this year — just keeps on winning.

He won his opening two matches at the ATP Finals in straight sets over Alex de Minaur and Taylor Fritz and next faces Daniil Medvedev on Thursday.

Sinner’s matches have regularly been drawing bigger TV audiences than top soccer games in Italy, and his quick rise to the top resulted in local fans buying up nearly all of the tickets for the finals.

“There are no foreign spectators; they’re all Italian,” Binaghi said. “We have 30,000 fewer foreigners than last year. Divide that by the 15 sessions and that’s 2,000 less for each session.”

The ability to sell more tickets to a wider audience is one of the reasons why the ATP Finals could be moved to Milan after the five-year contract with Turin expires next year.

A new arena being built in Milan for the 2026 Olympics would have 4,000 more seats than the Inalpi arena in Turin.

“We’ve proposed keeping the finals in Italy for another five years,” Binaghi said, adding that keeping the tournament in Turin remains an option, too.

Binaghi said he expects the ATP to announce a decision on the tournament’s future by Sunday.

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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis