Sinner, doping case: Radoux president of the panel that will judge him

There is the date and there is the arbitrator who completes the panel: now for Jannik Sinner the long wait begins towards 16 and 17 April, the days announced by the Tas for the arbitration that will have to put an end to the Clostebol case , with the Wada appeal asking for a sentence of 1 to 2 years for the player, deemed negligent in the management of his staff. A statement released in the early Italian afternoon, while Jannik was sleeping in Melbourne and his agent and advisor Vittur was arriving from Italy. Only in the morning did the world number 1 find out. A short text: “The Court of Arbitration for Sport has scheduled the hearing for the arbitration procedure of the case pitting the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) against Jannik Sinner, as decided by the independent tribunal appointed by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (Itia ), for 16 and 17 April 2025 at the CAS headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland. As no interested parties have requested a public hearing, this will take place behind closed doors.” Even 48 hours could be enough for the verdict. The player has the right to request that the decision be notified to him immediately. Also to continue playing until the reasons are entered. The president

radoux

—

There was one last piece missing to complete the college, the president appointed by the Tas. This is Jacques Radoux from Luxembourg, born in 1969. A highly esteemed judge in the world, known for his great preparation and balance, but above all a tennis player, chosen for the delicacy of the case. It is necessary that whoever has to decide on the career of the world number 1 is legally prepared, but can also understand the athlete’s life. Radoux did not have an extraordinary career at ATP level (around No. 500 in the world), and was Davis’ captain for the Luxembourg team from 2008 to 2013. In short, a tennis player will judge a world No. 1 with knowledge. Certainly his career as a jurist has given him greater satisfaction: he studied law in France, a legal representative at the Court of Justice of the European Union, Radoux is also involved in social work and since 2008 has been in charge of the tennis section of Special Olympics Luxembourg

the other referees

—

The first two referees to be appointed by the parties were Ken Lalo, chosen by Wada, and the American Jeffrey Benz, wanted by the Sinner team. Current president of the Israeli equestrian sports federation, Lalo is 66 years old and has three children and has been part of the list of referees of the Court of Arbitration for Sport since 2011. We don’t remember any media cases about him, but he is a sports jurist with great experience and, when deals with prohibited substances, of extreme intransigence. Jeffrey Benz, the judge chosen by the legal team of the world number 1 is American, and has been part of the list of TAS arbitrators since 2000. His experience is very vast and he was the judge appointed by Simona Halep in the arbitration which saw the disqualification for doping, due to a contaminated supplement, dropped from 4 years to 9 months (after having already served two). The documentation reached the arbitration panel: Jannik Sinner’s legal team presented its documentation, technically the “Answer brief”, in response to the appeal brief, called “Appeal brief”, of the World Anti-Doping Agency.

negligence

—

Wada accepted the player’s good faith, but believes he should have monitored the staff better. Hence, the appeal to the Tas. The player’s defense will have to demonstrate, in the new trial, that Sinner was not negligent, thus eliminating the possibility of a sanction. That he had done everything in his power to prevent Umberto Ferrara, the athletic trainer, from giving the physiotherapist Giacomo Naldi the Clostebol-based spray with which he inadvertently contaminated the player during treatments. If the player is deemed negligent, or significantly negligent, the period of ineligibility would be a minimum of one year. Sinner will appear in the courtroom in person together with his lawyers and witnesses on the days in which he was supposed to participate for the first time in the ATP 500 on the red clay of Munich. Everyone will be subjected to interrogation and cross-examination. Moments that Jannik and his witnesses will have to carefully prepare in the previous days to remember what happened in March 2024 in Indian Wells, when Sinner was contaminated. Arbitration hearing questions are often extremely detailed, and in the emotion of the moment it can be easy to omit or forget some detail. Jannik has already been through this: “Three times I had to pass this test – he said after receiving the news of the Wada appeal – I am calm because I know I have done nothing wrong. I will undergo this test once again, but I cannot do other”. All that remains is to wait.