"No remorse, Jannik Sinner's full of excuses & playing victim": Fans slam Italian's lawyer for 'downplaying' his role in doping saga after WADA appeal
Jannik Sinner's lawyer, Jamie Singer, has addressed the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) decision to appeal the "no fault or negligence" verdict in the Italian's doping case. However, Singer's remarks have not gone down well with tennis fans, who perceive them as an attempt to minimize the World No. 1's accountability.
In August, Sinner received a clean chit from an independent tribunal and the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) after testing positive for the banned anabolic steroid Clostebol during the Indian Wells Masters in March.
It was determined that the unintentional contamination was caused by the Italian's former physiotherapist and fitness coach through a healing spray. However, WADA has appealed the no-fault verdict to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), seeking a ban for up to two years.
In a recent interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport, Jannik Sinner's lawyer Jamie Singer admitted his "surprise" at the anti-doping agency's appeal, questioning WADA's belief that the 23-year-old deserved punishment because he was "somehow responsible" for the actions of his team.
"This request makes complete sense. No one, in fact, accuses Jannik Sinner of having benefited in his performances thanks to Clostebol. For this reason it would be unfair to penalize him in the ranking or in earnings. However, Wada believes that he is somehow responsible for the actions of the his team and for this reason he requests that he be punished," Jannik Sinner's lawyer said.
While Singer acknowledged that WADA was well within its rights to appeal the ruling, he emphasized his belief that the move was unnecessary.
"We are all aware that Wada has the full right to take this action, it was within its power to appeal and we know how complicated the work of supervising doping and the integrity of the world of sport is. Having said that, we believe that the appeal was not really necessary," he added.
However, fans did not take kindly to Singer seemingly "downplaying" Jannik Sinner's role, arguing that the 23-year-old bore some responsibility for the mistake made by members of his team.
"Every time Sinner and his team try to downplay his 2X failed Illegal substance tests and was allowed to continue playing, just makes the situation worse in my option. He has no remorse, but he’s full of excuses, and then playing victim. No, you broke the rules, you need to pay!" one fan commented.
"The “Somehow” doing the heavy lifting here. The lawyer knows perfectly well about Strict Liability, which is supposed to stop athletes who dope from conveniently saying “my team did it.” Team members don’t act unilaterally. Issues are discussed, esp sprays w doping labels on them," another fan chimed in.
""However, WADA believes that he is somehow responsible for the actions of his team and for this reason they ask for him to be punished." Yes because every other case in the tennis world it is like this, they are subject to strict liability. What’s different here ???" said another.
One fan even drew a comparison to Simona Halep's situation, pointing out that the Romanian served a nine-month ban despite her former coach Patrick Mouratoglou taking responsibility for the contaminated supplement that resulted in her positive test for Roxadustat.
"I can’t read this. Simona was responsible for the actions of her team who drugged her, and she got a year," one fan posted.
"Indeed he is responsible, it's a team when they win and not when something up," another fan wrote.
"If the argument is your not responsible then just hire trainers that like to dope and whatever happens is fine ? Wow," a fan remarked.
"The ludicrous thing to me is that if the mode of transmission is so well known that it can instantly be cited as source of transmission to show it was likely accidental then it should simply be considered negligent," said yet another.
"I'm very disappointed and also surprised" - Jannik Sinner opens up about WADA's appeal in doping saga
Amid WADA's appeal, Jannik Sinner has continued his exceptional run of form at the 2024 China Open. Aiming to successfully defend his title at the ATP 500 event, the World No. 1 triumphed over Nicolas Jarry and Roman Safiullin to reach the quarterfinals in Beijing.
Speaking to the press after his second-round win, Sinner opened up about being "disappointed and surprised" by the anti-doping agency's decision to contest the verdict in his doping case, especially given the positive outcomes of all his hearings.
"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. You know, I was not expecting it. I knew it a couple of days ago, that they were going to appeal, that today it's going to go official," Jannik Sinner said.
Up next, Jannik Sinner will battle it out against Jiri Lehecka for a spot in the semifinals of the China Open. The World No. 1 emerged victorious in their sole previous tour-level encounter, beating Lehecka 6-3, 6-3 at the 2024 Indian Wells Masters.