"I had a stinging feeling... then I started chuckling" - Tennis insider shares how Jannik Sinner's doping ban news sent him on emotional rollercoaster

Tennis insider and journalist Jon Wertheim critically spoke on Jannik Sinner and his settlement with The World Anti-Doping Agency (referred to as WADA, hereon). He appeared on the bonus episode of The Served Podcast to discuss this with show host and former American tennis star Andy Roddick.

He spoke about how he thought a long ban would have been unfair if the current World No. 1 was genuinely unaware of the wrongdoings. However, he expressed his shock after learning that he 'accepted' a ban which was only of 90 days.

"I had a stinging feeling in my heart about that but I was like oh man, if there's a world where he [Jannik Sinner] didn't do anything purposely wrong and then you get two years or a year taken away, that felt very heavy to me, that felt insane," he said.

"But I read the breaking news: 'accepts deal', I am like- okay, didn't even know that was in the offing, like an option. I read the dates and started chuckling to myself like, someone's really good at their job," he added. (7:50 onwards)

The star player had tested positive twice for a restricted anabolic steroid named Clostebol in March of last year. After that, WADA had appealed for a hearing of this case at the Court of Arbitration for Sports (referred to as CAS) which was scheduled to be held on April 16-17, 2025.

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Jannik Sinner accepted three-month ban from tennis

Jannik Sinner at the 2025 Australian Open - Source: Getty

Jannik Sinner settled with WADA on a case resolution agreement saga and agreed to serve a three-month ban from tennis that will end in May 2025, putting an end to his doping saga. WADA has now formally withdrawn its appeal from CAS after reaching a consensus with the Italian.

In a statement released by WADA on Saturday, the organization stated that it believed Sinner was not guilty of doping intentionally.

'WADA accepts that Mr. Sinner did not intend to cheat, and that his exposure to clostebol did not provide any performance-enhancing benefit and took place without his knowledge as the result of negligence of members of his entourage.'

His three-month ban is due to WADA deeming him to be responsible for the actions of his team.

However, during these 90 days, the 23-year-old will not be missing any major tournaments except for four ATP Masters 1000 events in Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo, and Madrid. He is expected to be back just in time for the second Grand Slam of the year at Roland Garros (French Open) 2025.