Jannik Sinner responds to WADA appeal over doping investigation

Jannik Sinner has declared that he has nothing to hide and will be cooperating fully with a new investigation after news that the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) has appealed his exoneration from two failed drug tests earlier this year.

The Italian issued a statement late on Saturday addressing the new appeal by WADA.

“I am disappointed to hear that WADA have chosen to appeal the result of my ITIA (International Tennis Integrity Agency) hearing after the independent judges had exonerated me and deemed me to be innocent,” said Sinner.

“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.

“That 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 again.”

Sinner outlined in his statement how he has already gone through three separate hearings, constituting “three senior judges scrutinising every detail”, which ended in an “in-depth judgement” explaining why he was not at fault.

The WADA are seeking a ban of between one and two years for Sinner, saying that “the finding of ‘no fault or negligence’ was not correct under the applicable rules”.

Despite the off-court attention, Sinner was still able to keep his campaign alive in Beijing this week, where he is the top seed.

The 22-year-old faced Roman Safiullin in the round of 16, and despite dropping the opening set, powered his way to victory in two hours and 22 minutes, winning 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 on Saturday.

Sinner will face Croatian Jiri Lehecka next in the quarter-finals, where he is a -909.09 favorite at Bovada to prevail.

Tennis betting sites have him as the favorite to win the tournament as well, with the world No.1 paying +120, ahead of second seed Carlos Alcaraz (+160) and last year’s finalist Daniil Medvedev (+400).

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