World No. 1 Jannik Sinner avoids suspension after testing positive for banned substance

Jannik Sinner, the No. 1 ranked men’s tennis player in the world, will head into the U.S. Open with his steroid scandal behind him.

Sinner, who tested positive twice for a banned anabolic steroid earlier this year, won’t be suspended. The International Tennis Integrity Agency said Tuesday that the banned substance he tested positive for entered his system unintentionally through a massage from his physiotherapist, and that Sinner was “not at fault.”

While he will still lose ranking points and prize money he received at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, which he was competing in when he first tested positive, Sinner will avoid suspension.

Sinner first tested positive at Indian Wells in March for low levels of a metabolite of clostebol, which is the same anabolic steroid that San Diego Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr. was suspended 80 games for in Major League Baseball in 2022. Tatis and his father claimed it came from a tainted ringworm medication.

Sinner then tested positive a second time eight days later after the tournament, and he was provisionally suspended. He appealed that ruling, however, and was allowed to keep competing.

The ITIA said in a statement that the positive test was a “result of contamination from a support team member, who had been applying an over-the-counter spray containing clostebol to their own skin to treat a small wound.” This was then passed onto Sinner through “daily massages and sports therapy.”

Sinner took the top spot in the world rankings for the first time in his career in June. The 23-year-old won the Australian Open in January, which marked his first Grand Slam title, and he beat Frances Tiafoe to claim the Cincinnati Open title on Monday. Sinner reached the semifinals at the French Open and the quarterfinals at Wimbledon this season, and he’s listed at +200 — even with Novak Djokovic and slightly behind Carlos Alcaraz — to win the U.S. Open on BetMGM.