Top Australian lawyer reveals why Jannik Sinner will be banned for doping

Yesterday at 04:00 AM

In an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald, Tim Fuller, Australian lawyer who has previously represented swimmer Shayna Jack (involved in a doping scandal), revealed what the sentence could be for Jannik Sinner's positive Clostebol test.

We will still have to wait to know the CAS verdict, but several professionals have spoken out on the matter, giving their opinion. As also known from the schedule of the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, the ruling should arrive after mid-February 2025.

"My opinion is that the verdict on non-negligence will be overturned, with the consequent imposition of a sanction. I would say that this is a very unusual case. WADA accepts the fact that the intake of the substance is not intentional, but maintains that there is a certain degree of fault or negligence for what happened, and that therefore the athlete has the ultimate responsibility. What will have to be examined in this case, therefore, is the degree of fault or negligence, for that we are talking about a suspension of one or two years. Up to a year of suspension would be a low degree of negligence," he explaimed.

In the last few hours - in an interview for Gazzetta dello Sport, the director of Italian anti-doping Alessia Di Gianfrancesco also intervened on the issue.

"Some threshold values ​​for certain substances already exist. We need to understand what the situation is in the various countries and possibly make an assessment to homogenize. WADA has the expertise to know how to intervene, certain assessments must also be made by virtue of the products available. WADA was established precisely to harmonize. Many procedures have been harmonized, but judgment has not yet been harmonized.

A discussion on this absolutely must be opened. Without uniformity, the anti-doping organization will continue to be in difficulty, because without harmonized procedures it is complex to protect the athlete, the system and obviously clean sport. If in Italy we decide one way and elsewhere another, a personalized judgment emerges with a gradation of guilt that depends on the interpretation. Only WADA can and must resolve this situation," she explained.