Court of Arbitration for Sport sets Sinner doping hearing at sports court for April

World number one Jannik Sinner will have his hearing into allegations of doping at the Court of Arbitration for Sport on April 16-17, the Lausanne-based body said on Friday.

The World Anti-Doping Agency appealed after the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) cleared Sinner after he tested positive twice for the banned steroid clostebol in March last year.

“No parties requested a public hearing and it will be conducted behind closed doors," CAS said in a statement.

The ITIA accepted defending Australian Open champion Sinner's explanation that the drug entered his system when his physio used a spray containing it to treat a cut, then provided a massage and sports therapy to the player.

Asked on the eve of the Australian Open if he knew when a verdict was due, the 23-year-old said: “I know exactly as much as you guys know.

“We are in a stage where we don't know many, many things."

Sinner, who faces a stern first-round test at Melbourne Park against big-hitting Chilean Nicolas Jarry, admitted the scandal continued to play on his mind.

“You think about this, of course," he said. "I would lie if I would tell you I forget.

“It's something what I have with me now already for quite a long time. But it is what it is. I'm here trying to prepare for the Grand Slam. Let's see how it goes."

Sinner said he had always been “very, very careful on every single medicine I take, even what I eat".

“When the bottle is open, I throw it away, I take a new one," he said. “In my mind I know exactly what happened, and that's how I block it (out).

“I haven't done anything wrong, that's why I'm still here. That's why I'm still playing."

ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi has insisted Sinner's case was “run by the book”.

“I genuinely believe there has been a lot of misinformation out there, which is unfortunate," Gaudenzi told the Australian Associated Press in a recent interview.

"I am 100 percent sure that there has not been any preferential treatment. The process has been run by the book and according to the rules, by the ITIA."

Former world number one Novak Djokovic said he believed Sinner when he said he tested positive due to contamination, but the 24-time Grand Slam winner asserted that players had been “kept in the dark" throughout the process.

“I've been really frustrated, as have most of the other players, that we've been kept in the dark for five months,” Djokovic said.

“He (Sinner) received the news (of the positive tests) in April and the announcement was not until August, just before the US Open.

“The ATP has not really talked in depth about why they kept that case away from the public.”

AFP