By: Monu Kumar
Top-ranked tennis player Jannik Sinner has accepted a three-month ban in a settlement with the World Anti-Doping Agency over his two positive doping tests, the organization said Saturday.
WADA, which was seeking to ban Sinner from the sport for at least one year, had challenged a decision last year by the International Tennis Integrity Agency not to suspend Sinner for what the ITIA judged was accidental contamination by a banned anabolic steroid last March.
Sinner's explanation — that trace amounts of Clostebol in his doping sample was due to a massage from a trainer who used the substance after cutting his own finger — had been accepted.
Sinner, who won the Australian Open in January, will be eligible to compete in the next Grand Slam. The French Open begins May 25.