Three days after the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) announced that world No. 1 Jannik Sinner had tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug, the Italian confirmed that he had parted ways with the two men at the heart of the doping case that rocked the tennis world this week. In a press conference Friday, he said he was relieved the news was out after months of investigation.
In his first public comments, Sinner said he had taken solace in knowing that he had never intentionally done anything wrong, but needed to break from the trainer and physiotherapist responsible for allowing the prohibited substance from entering his system.
“Because of these mistakes, I’m not feeling that confident to continue with them,” Sinner said of Umberto Ferrara, his fitness coach, and Giacomo Naldi, his physiotherapist, during a news conference ahead of the U.S. Open. “I was struggling a lot in the last months. Now I was waiting for the result, and now I just need some clean air.”
Ferrara and Naldi had been part of the close-knit crew that has helped Sinner, the 22-year-old Italian reach the pinnacle of the sport.
“We have decided to part ways and are not working together anymore,” Sinner’s spokesperson stated on behalf of the team. “We wish them the best of luck.”
Naldi had not accompanied Sinner to any events since Halle, a June grass-court tournament in Germany that serves as a tuneup for Wimbledon. Ferrara had not been with Sinner since Wimbledon, which ended in mid-July.
During all those months, Sinner has been balancing the stress of trying to clear his name through the arduous anti-doping litigation process with being the world’s top-ranked tennis player and trying to win actual tournaments.
Sinner first tested positive during Indian Wells, where he lost in the semifinals to Carlos Alcaraz (George Walker/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
“It was a long process,” Sinner said. “I was always concerned that it might come out at some point. In the beginning it was a different view, but then after, you know, it was a little bit more complicated. I went through, me and my team and the lawyers, I’m just a simple tennis player.”
Since testing positive for clostebol, a banned anabolic steroid in March, Sinner has learned that being a top tennis player can be anything but simple.
He received a provisional suspension for each failed test, the first on March 10, during the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, and the second on March 18 in an out-of-competition test.
An independent tribunal convened by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) accepted Sinner’s explanation that his two adverse analytical findings (AAF) for clostebol were caused by the actions of Naldi and Ferrara. It found “no fault or negligence” on Sinner’s behalf, but stripped the Italian of his ranking points, prize money, and results from California. Two independent review boards, also convened by the ITIA, reached the same conclusion after Sinner appealed against the two provisional suspensions that are mandatory in the case of an AAF.
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The review boards upheld those appeals, which meant that Sinner could continue to play while under investigation. It also meant that those provisional suspensions remained undisclosed to the public.
According to the full decision of the tribunal, released by the ITIA on Tuesday after a hearing on August 15, Ferrara purchased a product called Trofodermin in Italy in February. This is a spray that is used to heal cuts, and it is available over-the-counter in Italy. Clostebol is one of the ingredients.
Naldi then cut himself using a scalpel that he used to treat callouses on Sinner’s feet at the tournament, before using that spray to help heal the cut. He subsequently gave Sinner a massage on his back and applied treatments to his feet. Sinner suffers from a skin condition that causes itching, and when he scratches himself he causes small cuts.
Clostebol is an old steroid that was once at the center of the notorious East German doping scandals of the 1970s and 1980s. It can help build muscle mass and expedite recovery from intense workouts. Its presence in those healing creams available in Italy and other countries has been well-known to those who stay up to date with anti-doping information for several years, especially among Italian sports figures who have tested positive for it for similar reasons.
Sinner said Ferrara has long approached his job with a great deal of care, especially when it comes to nutrition and medication.
When the ITIA informed him of the positive test, he went immediately to Ferrara and he was certain his spray had caused it.
He said they went right back to the ITIA with the explanation, which led to him being allowed to keep playing.
“We had to figure out what would happen then in the future,” he said. “They believed in me and in us, and that’s why I could have played.”
That was a relief, he said, especially because he knew he hadn’t done anything wrong.
“I knew that I was very clean, and I knew that I was always very looking forward to be a fair player,” he said, though he knows that the positive tests will inevitably cause a hit to his reputation; a hit that he will carry it through this tournament and perhaps beyond.
“It might change a couple of things, but whoever knows me very well knows that I haven’t done and I would never do something what goes against the rules,” he said. “Obviously it has been a very tough moment for me and my team. It still is, because it’s quite fresh.”
(Andy Cheung/Getty Images)
