The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) confirmed to Agence France-Presse (AFP) that tennis star Jannik Sinner's doping case will not be resolved by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) before the end of the year.
"There will be no decision by year-end," WADA Director General Olivier Niggli told AFP in an interview.
Sinner, the world No. 1 from Italy, tested positive twice for traces of the banned substance clostebol in March but was cleared to continue competing.
An independent tribunal, convened by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) at the end of August, concluded that Sinner "bears no fault or negligence." The ITIA accepted his explanation that the drug entered his system when his physiotherapist used a clostebol-containing spray to treat a cut before administering massage and sports therapy.
WADA has appealed the decision to clear the 23-year-old and is seeking a ban of up to two years.
"It was considered in the decision that there was no fault on the part of Sinner. Our position is that there is still a responsibility of the athlete in relation to his entourage," Niggli said.
"So it is this legal point that will be debated (before CAS).
"We do not dispute the fact that it could have been a contamination. But we believe that the application of the rules does not correspond to the case law."
While the ITIA was criticized for revealing late the positive tests of Sinner and women's world No. 2 Iga Swiatek, Niggli believes "athletes must be protected."
Swiatek last month accepted a one-month suspension after testing positive for the heart medication trimetazidine (TMZ) in an out-of-competition sample in August 2024.
"Personally, I think that protecting an athlete's reputation should be our first concern," Niggli said.
"We live in a world where social media is what it is and means that a reputation can go up in smoke in a very, very short time."
