Jannik Sinner responds to WADA appealing his doping case: "I have nothing to hide"

Jannik Sinner asserts he has “nothing to hide” after the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) confirmed it is appealing the finding that the Italian held “no fault or negligence” for twice testing positive for an anabolic steroid in March.

The defending China Open champion was on court Saturday when news broke that WADA wished to have the case reviewed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and was seeking a period of ineligibility for up to two years after Sinner was found to have clostebol in his system at Indian Wells.

Sinner rallied past Roman Safiullin, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, before addressing the latest turn with media in Beijing.

“Obviously I'm very disappointed and also surprised of this appeal, to be honest, because we had three hearings. All three hearings came out very positively for me,” he said.

The two-time major winner later released a more thorough statement to media in summarizing his feelings:

“I am disappointed to hear that WADA have chosen to appeal the result of my ITIA hearing after the independent judges had exonerated me and deemed me to be innocent.

“Over the past few months and throughout this process there have been three separate hearings in each case confirming my innocence.“Several months of interviews and investigations culminated in three senior judges scrutinizing every detail through a formal hearing.

“They issued an in-depth judgement explaining why they determined me not at fault, with clear evidence provided and my cooperation throughout.

“On the back of such a robust process, both the ITIA and the Italian anti-doping authority accepted it and waived their rights to appeal.

“I understand these things need to be thoroughly investigated to maintain the integrity of the sport we all love. However, it is difficult to see what will be gained by asking a different set of three judges to look at the same facts and documentation all over again.

“This being said, I have nothing to hide, and as I have done throughout the summer, I will cooperate fully with the appeal process and provide whatever may be needed to prove my innocence once again.”

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Sinner closed by claiming he would not comment again while his fate rests in the hands of CAS.

The world No. 1 is due to meet Jiri Lehecka Monday in his next match. Sinner has advanced to the quarterfinals or better at all 13 tournaments he’s entered in 2024 and is on a 13-match win streak.