NEW YORK — Tennis great Roger Federer said Tuesday that anti-doping authorities have questions to answer about a perceived double standard applied to men’s world No. 1 Jannik Sinner after he avoided a suspension despite two positive steroid tests earlier this year.
The 20-time Grand Slam champion called the drama surrounding Italy’s Sinner “a tricky situation” and “the nightmare of every athlete,” but said he trusts that Sinner did not intentionally use a banned substance.
During the Indian Wells tournament in March, Sinner tested positive for low levels of clostebol, a banned anabolic steroid that can be used for ophthalmological and dermatological use. He tested positive again eight days later in an out-of-competition sample.
He was provisionally suspended because of those test results but successfully appealed and was allowed to keep competing on tour. In its ruling, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), an independent body established in 2021, determined that the substance entered Sinner’s system unintentionally through a massage from his physiotherapist, who had been applying an over-the-counter spray containing clostebol to his own hand to treat a small wound.
“It’s not something we want to see in our sport. This type of news, regardless of whether he did something or not … It’s just noise that we don’t want,” Federer said Tuesday in an interview with NBC’s Today Show. “I understand the frustration about has he been treated the same as others, and I think this is where it comes down to.”
Some players commented on social media after the news broke, wondering if Sinner caught a break because of his standing as one of the best players in the game, when others had been provisionally suspended for similar positive tests
“I think we all trust pretty much that Jannik didn’t do anything, but the inconsistency potentially that he’d have to sit out while they were not 100% sure about what was going on, I think that’s the question here that needs to be answered,” Federer continued. “But it is what it is. We have to trust the process as well of everyone involved.”
Federer is in New York to promote his book, a new visual biography called “Federer,” and said he will be attending the US Open evening session Tuesday, his first return to Arthur Ashe Stadium since his retirement two years ago.
Reuters contributed to this report.
