According to Rafael Nadal’s former coach and uncle, Toni Nadal, it’s ‘unthinkable’ that Jannik Sinner doped intentionally.
Last week, the public learned that Sinner tested positive for a banned substance, clostebol, twice. Although this happened in March, it was only recently announced that the Italian was cleared of any wrongdoing.
The matter was kept quiet while the investigation was going on. He wasn’t banned from competing either because his initial appeal was accepted, making him spend only a few days away from the courts during provisional suspension.
Sinner’s explanation was deemed good enough, and he was allowed to compete. The saga quickly became the top story in tennis, and there was quite a bit of controversy.
Many questioned the situation because it was kept away from the public. Plenty of narratives were created, and Toni Nadal dissected the whole matter in his most recent column for El Pais, fully backing Sinner as a player who would never dope. From his own dealings with him, Nadal doesn’t suspect Sinner of foul play.
“It is absolutely clear to me that the Italian player does not want to commit any infraction, and even more so, not to seek any advantage through the use of prohibited substances.”
“I know the player well enough to be able to say without a shadow of a doubt that he is one of the most correct and well-mannered guys on the circuit. For me it is unthinkable that he could act in an unfair manner.”
Nadal then highlighted that Sinner was not ultimately at fault because the contamination was tracked to a member of his team, Giacomo Naldi.
“There was a problem within his team that he paid for quite dearly with the financial penalty and the loss of ATP points. It leaves me very perplexed how some of the press, instead of criticizing the excessive sanctions of other occasions, now demands a similar punishment for the world number 1.”
“It is not surprising that there are always people who take the right to speak and judge without fully knowing the case.”
There was quite a bit of commotion in tennis circles, and several players made comments about Sinner and his case. Nadal found that to be quite bizarre because Sinner is known around the Tour, and he’s not known for cheating or doing things the wrong way.
“It really amazes me even more that there are other tennis players on the tour who have taken a stand against him. I don’t understand how some of his colleagues who know him well, have trained with him and faced him in matches doubt his innocence or want a punishment against him that, strictly speaking, would be absolutely disproportionate.”
“For the sake of a healthy society, in this case as in others, it would be appropriate to remember the phrase of one of the greatest writers of all time, Goethe: ‘Wickedness needs no reason, a pretext is enough.'”
