Jannik Sinner's ex-physiotherapist, who gave him the massages that led to his positive tests for a banned substance, recently spoke about the incident.
Giacomo Naldi joined Sinner as his physiotherapist in February 2023. The world No. 1's team always seemed very close on and off the court, and it felt like Naldi could work with him for a long time.
However, that possibility was ended after Sinner's high-profile doping scandal. It was revealed a few days before the start of the US Open that the 23-year-old had twice tested for the banned substance clostebol.
Sinner was cleared of wrongdoing by the International Tennis Integrity Agency(ITIA), but the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) appealed, feeling that a ban of between one and two years would be appropriate.
Neither the ITIA nor WADA dispute Sinner's explanation of how the clostebol entered the system. WADA appealed the case because it felt the Italian bore some responsibility for how that occurred.
Unfortunately for Naldi, he and Sinner's former fitness trainer, Umberto Ferrara, undoubtedly take some blame for what happened. Ferrara gave Naldi an over-the-counter spray to use for a cut on his finger.
Neither Ferrara nor Naldi knew the spray contained clostebol. Sinner's former physiotherapist subsequently gave him massages without gloves after using the spray, which led to the clostebol entering the world No. 1's system.
The controversy surrounding the doping scandal led Sinner to remove Naldi and Ferrara from his team, although some questioned why he waited to do this until the investigation became public and not when he first found out about the positive tests.
Sinner replaced Naldi and Ferrara with Novak Djokovic's former team members, Marco Panichi and Ulises Badio. The Italian will face Djokovic for the first time since he hired those pair in a blockbuster Shanghai Masters final.
Naldi spoke briefly about the doping scandal at the presentation of the Open Food Factory Project, saying he was fine and hoped to one day give a picture of what happened.
"I'm fine. I'm sorry like everyone else. I can't say anything else, I just hope, sooner or later, I can also tell what happened to give a general picture, as anyone who has read the sentence knows."
The physiotherapist also mentioned his relationship with Sinner. He outlined how the two-time Grand Slam winner was nice to him but admitted to being aware of the many negative comments about him and Ferrara since the doping saga became public.
"He wrote to me, he was nice like all the staff. For the rest, I received and read things that weren't nice, but it's part of the game,"
Naldi must be desperate for Sinner to avoid a ban when the verdict of his appeal is reached sometime next year. He and Ferrara would have to live with guilt if the US Open champion served up to a two-year ban for the positive tests.
Sinner has retained his focus impressively since his positive tests became public and will try to do that until the end of the season.
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