Jannik Sinner's Three-Month Ban 'Too Long' According To Holger Rune's Mother
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Aneke Rune, Holger Rune's mother, thinks Jannik Sinner's ban is too lengthy and that his doping case took too long to resolve. She also worries about the players living in constant fear of testing positive for prohibited substances.
Opinions in the tennis world have differed sharply since it was announced that Sinner accepted a three-month ban from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to end his doping case. This meant he did not have to face an appeal hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Sinner's stressful saga began when he tested positive for clostebol almost 12 months ago at the 2024 Indian Wells Open. WADA accepted his physiotherapist accidentally contaminated him, but initially appealed the case until settling with Sinner.
Nick Kyrgios called the settlement a dark day for tennis and thinks there is no fairness in tennis. By contrast, Rafael Nadal's uncle Toni does not think Sinner deserved a ban because the contamination was accidental and a miniscule amount.
Speaking to the Danish outlet Ekstra Bladet, Aneke Rune's instinct is that the three-month ban for Sinner was harsh, but she also admitted to not being an expert who could judge the details of the case perfectly.
"I personally think that three months and a year of processing time is too long. I don't know the details of the individual case enough to say whether it is reasonable. That is WADA's board."
"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's mother seemed to express sympathy for Sinner when she described how easy it is for clostebol to be transferred from another person without realizing, as proven by the Italian only having a billionth of a gram in his system in his two positive tests.
"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, surfaces you touch, etc."
Aneke thinks how low the amount of a substance is in a player's system needs to be considered seriously when ruling on cases. Otherwise, players will be afraid to go out at all.
"The 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."
"But 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."
