Tennis number one Sinner has a doping hearing at the sports court scheduled for April | Tennis news

In April, the Court of Arbitration for Sport will decide on the accusations of doping by the world’s number one tennis player, Jannik Sinner.

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

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

“Neither side requested a public hearing and it will be held behind closed doors,” the CAS statement said.

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

Asked ahead of the Australian Open if he knew when to make a decision, the 23-year-old said: “I know exactly as much as you do.

“We’re at a stage where we don’t know many, many things.”

Sinner, who faces a tough test in the first round at Melbourne Park against Chilean big man Nicolas Jarry, admitted the scandal is still on his mind.

“Think about this, of course,” he said. “I’d be lying if I told you I forgot.

“It’s something I’ve had with me for a long time. But it is what it is. I’m here trying to prepare the Grand Slam. Let’s see how it goes.”

Sinner said he has always been “very, very careful about every medicine I take, even what I eat.”

“When the bottle is opened, I throw it away, take a new one,” he said.

“In my mind I know exactly what happened and so I block it out [out].

“I didn’t do anything wrong, that’s why I’m still here. That’s why I’m still playing.”

ATP president Andrea Gaudenzi insisted Sinner’s case was “by the book”.

“I honestly believe there’s been a lot of misinformation, which is unfortunate,” Gaudenzi told the Australian Associated Press in a recent interview.

“I am 100 percent sure that there was no preferential treatment. He ran the process by the book and by the rules, ITIA.”

Former world number one Novak Djokovic said he believed Sinner when he said he tested positive for the infection, but the 24-time Grand Slam champion claimed players were “kept in the dark” throughout the process.

“I was very frustrated, like most of the other players, that we were kept in the dark for five months,” Djokovic said.

“He [Sinner] received the news [of the positive tests] in April, and the announcement came only in August, just before the US Open.

“ATP hasn’t really talked in detail about why they kept the case out of the public eye.”