Jannik Sinner’s assault on a second consecutive China Open title, has been interrupted by new WADA ruling.
Potentially the biggest story within the sport this year took another twist on Saturday as the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) confirmed that they had launched an appeal against Sinner.
Sinner twice tested positive for banned substance Clostebol in March earlier this year, but had been found to ‘bear no fault or negligence’ according to the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA).
WADA disagrees with the ITIA’s findings and are instead looking for their appeal to land a one-two-year suspension for Sinner.
Coco Gauff’s former coach, Brad Gilbert, took to social media to share his thoughts on WADA’s appeal.
What did star coach Brad Gilbert say about WADA’s appeal?
Gilbert split from American Coco Gauff last month after a disappointing US Open title defence, in which the 20-year-old failed to reach the Quarter-Finals.
Prior to coaching Gauff, Gilbert enjoyed stints coaching Andy Murray, Andy Roddick and Andre Agassi.
Never one to shy away from controversy, the eight-time Grand Slam-winning coach took to X, sharing his thoughts on the appeal.
“I am completely disheveled by this Wada decision,” Gilbert began.
“[The Clostebol sample] was 8000 times smaller than a gram of salt, this now will unfortunately take months to figure out, where is the players representation on this, other than Sin City paying for his own lawyers.”
Whilst some fans jokingly took issue to the 63-year-olds questionable use of the word ‘disheveled’ in the replies, the sentiment of Gilberts’ message does hold value to some.
The low levels of Clostebol found in Sinner’s drug sample, makes the issue around a potential suspension for the Italian less about whether he was using performance-enhancing drugs, but instead whether the negligence involved in the supposed contamination from Sinner’s physio should be worthy of punishment.
Whilst Sinner seemingly has the support of Gilbert, others in the tennis community are in favour of a suspension for the 23-year-old.
2022 Wimbledon Finalist, Nick Kyrgios took to X when the news first broke in August, claiming that the decision not to suspend Sinner was “ridiculous”.
Former World Number 10 Denis Shapovalov joined Kyrgios in his anger at the news, by claiming that there are “different rules for different players”.
Jannik Sinner continues excellent form on the court
Whilst the Italian makes headlines off the court, he has maintained his form on it. Twice a Grand-Slam Champion in 2024 (Melbourne and New York), Sinner is looking to keep that momentum going into the Asian swing.
Champion last year in Beijing, the 23-year-old is favourite to defend his title in a tough field that includes fellow Grand Slam winners Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev.
Despite news breaking on Saturday morning of WADA’s appeal, Sinner battled past qualifier Roman Safiullin in three sets to take his place in the Quarter-Finals where he will face off against Jiri Lehecka on Monday.
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