Tennis star Jannik Sinner tested positive for a steroid twice but will not be suspended

I've heard some great doping "excuses" in my time : the "I ate lots of steak and drank many beers that raised my testosterone" - Floyd Landis mid-way through the Tour de France. The popular "my drink bottle was spiked!". The recent "all 23 of us somehow accidentally consumed heart medication".

But this is up there. "My trainer had taken a steroid, gave me a massage, and my open cuts and sores were contaminated with the steroids he had taken".

Whoever wrote this story deserves a payrise from Sinner!

ITIA believed the explanation and he was not suspended, and I believe they are experts in these matters.

Many steroid creams out there for skin problems, I also use some. But somebody working with a professional athlete should know better. Just ask Simona Halep.

Steroids in skin creams are labeled IME. If a trainer just cost me $325K, I'd fire him, unless I knew it was happening. So, if the trainer isn't fired for incompetence, we know this wasn't accidental as claimed.

I want to believe the story, but actions speak much louder.

I'm disappointed he didn't get a 6 month block from the tour too.

I have at least 2 OTC 1% steroid creams in a drawer here right now. Would be interesting to know which steroid was found in the testing.

It is in the article: clostebol.

I think he got away with it because the detected amount was very small, and there were records of the trainer purchasing the cream.

And it is very difficult to believe that no. 1 tennis player in the world would use such a textbook steroid intentionally, while being randomly tested all the time.

BTW, the Clostebol ointment is available in Italy without a prescription. It is an OTC cream.

Clostebol permanently features on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s Prohibited List as it is a derivative of testosterone. Uses of clostebol include treatment for muscle wasting diseases and increasing athletes’ physical performances, as well as sorts of anemia and osteoporosis.

The performance-increasing effects of clostebol are strongest when it is used as a gel but it is also available as a cream. As with the Sinner case, the over-the-counter spray commonly found in Italy that his trainer bought to treat a cut on a finger contained traces of clostebol.

The more I learn, the most I think the story is believable. The trainer was using it on his own cuts, not Sinner's. Testing twice in 2 weeks showed the steroid in his system

“The roughly estimated concentration of 100 pg/mL is a small concentration and could be obtained by cross-contamination as published in the scientific literature.”

Guess Sinner will be insisting his trainers wear gloves for massages going forward. $325K is a bunch of money - gone.

So he can't use clostebol anymore, hope the trainer finds an acceptable alternative

Of course the tested sample was small. It was supposed to be fully out of the system by then. They slipped up and got pinged.But surprised he was caught at all, tennis has a very slack testing regime.

Mr Kipling

Today 03:43 pm JST

Of course the tested sample was small. It was supposed to be fully out of the system by then. They slipped up and got pinged.But surprised he was caught at all, tennis has a very slack testing regime

Surely looks slack even as he got caught, maybe even more

If I was going to use PEDs I would do a cycle after the Australian Open. (Jan, Feb) so by March I would be clean....

Unless I got my timing slightly wrong...oops.

If caught I would pay my trainer to say he was using steroid cream. It's a great excuse.

Tennis doesn't want to lose its new golden boy.

American swimmer Calista Liu, this year:

"In the investigation, the arbitrator concluded that Liu likely came into contact with dorzolamide from using her fathers pillows and bedding, which he used to aid him in administering his prescribed dorzolamide eye drops multiple times per day. "

Sure. But she's American, so, far-fetched excuses are ok.

It really bothered me that some of my fellow instructors used PEDs to unfair advantage. They also used them when we were doing research. I couldn't keep up they were so muscle bound. My cousin who works as a sales lady in a clothing store had the same problem. Let me tell you something about PEDs. PEDs are bad mkay.