Jannik Sinner gets greeted with loud boos before his first-round match at the US Open

The controversy grew because the public only learned about his failed tests when the case was resolved. This led some players to wonder if Sinner received special treatment because of his high status in tennis, as the case was kept quiet, and he was allowed to keep competing.

During the time his case was under review, Sinner reached the semifinals of the French Open in June and the quarterfinals at Wimbledon in July. However, he had to forfeit the $325,000 prize money and 400 ranking points from Indian Wells due to the positive test result.

Jannik Sinner’s doping scandal: What do we know so far?

The biggest buzz at the U.S. Open on Monday didn’t come from the action on the courts. It wasn’t about any big names getting knocked out early. Instead, the focus shifted to the news about Jannik Sinner, the top-ranked men’s tennis player, who failed two drug tests this past spring but was cleared of any wrongdoing and won’t face suspension.

Last week, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) shared that Sinner, a 23-year-old from Italy who became the world’s top player in June, tested positive for a banned substance, clostebol, during a March tournament in Indian Wells, California. He failed a second test eight days later.

Sinner was temporarily suspended twice in the spring but appealed successfully and was allowed to keep playing while the case was investigated. Sinner explained that his fitness trainer bought a spray containing clostebol to treat a cut on his physiotherapist’s finger. The physiotherapist later gave Sinner a massage, leading to a positive test.

In a news conference on Friday before the tournament, Sinner said he had fired his trainer, Umberto Ferrara, and his physiotherapist, Giacomo Naldi, over the incident. However, Naldi accused the media of creating a bad image of him during this fiasco.