Tennis

Whether it is Reasonable Jannik Sinner Suspension is ‘Concerning’ According to Aneke Rune

Jannik Sinner and Holger Rune’s mother Aneke

The fall-out from Jannik Sinner’s suspension from tennis continues to send shock waves through the sport, with many players concerned that they could be the next to get caught up in a doping scandal.

Sinner reached a settlement with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) over two positive drugs test in March last year, as he accepted a three-month ban from the sport amid concers that he could be banned for a year if if opted to take the appeal all the way to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, where a hearing in April has been scheduled.

Now Sinner is suspended from February 9 until May 4, meaning he will be eligible to play in the year’s next Grand Slam, the French Open, which starts on May 19 at Roland Garros.

Both WADA and the International Tennis Integrity Agency accepted Sinner’s explanation that the banned substance clostebol entered his system by accident after he received a massage from his now former team member Umberto Ferrara.

The story has left players concerned by the dangers of contamination and the mother of world No 13 Holger Rune has now spoken about the story in an interview with Ekstra Bladet.

“I personally think that three months and a year of processing time is too long,” said Aneke Rune. “I don’t know the details of the individual case enough to say whether it is reasonable.

“If you read a little about clostebol, you can see how frighteningly easy it can be transferred to other people if it has been used by a third party.

“That, I think, is almost the scariest thing about this case. Think about how many fans you give high fives to the surfaces you touch.

“Players will become neurotic. Now clostebol is a prescription drug in most countries, and there is therefore little risk of transmission. But not in Italy.

“It should be as a consequence of all the cases they have had, to protect their athletes. There may be other substances that are also easily transmitted, and therefore it is important to look at the lower limit values, so that the athletes do not end up isolating themselves completely.

“I read about an athlete recently where they had found traces of something that occurs in strong alcohol, but which in isolation can be performance-enhancing.

“There are also steaks where the cow has eaten steroids, which show up in tests – this is also a problem that several athletes have run into.

“They can’t sit isolated from all the people and eat organic bananas all day for fear of a test showing a small trace of something.

“I also think that this is one of the areas, like the limit values, that WADA and ITIA must look at after the recent cases; that for example, it must not take more than a maximum of x number of days to confirm whether there is poisoning or not, so that the athletes can quickly resume their careers and not sit out for a year because some office people mess around with some analyses.”

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She also joined Novak Djokovic by suggesting some players get different treatment after failing a drug test as she added: “As I read it, I think most of the athletes’ criticism is that there are such different guidelines in individual cases where there are obvious accidents and not intentional doping.”

Holger Rune spoke to Tennis365 about his own experiences with doping controls in tennis last December, as he revealed how many times he had been tested.

“We had a lot of doping control this year,” Rune told Tennis365. “Before the Olympics this year, I had around 20 (tests) and that is a lot, but they are doing everything to keep the sport clean, which is very, very important.

“I take a lot of care about the supplements I take like every player, but it can be unfortunate or it can be something else (if you test positive).

“Personally, I always take care of what I eat and drink. If I leave a drink anywhere, I never pick it up again. You have to protect yourself where you can to make sure I can do what I can to do what I love and that’s play tennis every day.

“I do blood tests maybe once a year to see what my body needs more of, but that’s too personal to talk about. It’s things like vitamin C when you get sick and you need more of that.”

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