Mathieu Warnier, Media365: published on Friday August 23, 2024 at 10:30 p.m.
While he does not hide the fact that the positive tests for clostebol undergone by Jannik Sinner are problematic, Patrick Mouratoglou considers that the handling of this whole affair by the ITIA is in line with expectations.
This is news that has sent a chill through world tennis. This Tuesday, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) revealed that Jannik Sinner had tested positive for clostebol twice, a steroid on the list of banned substances. However, having pleaded the cause of contamination given the low concentrations detected, the Italian was not sanctioned. While Simona Halep had to fight for over a year to win her case in a relatively similar case, the management of this “Sinner affair” is causing a lot of talk. Indeed, it irritated many people when others took the side of the world number 1. A few days after these revelations, Patrick Mouratoglou spoke out through a message published on the social network LinkedIn. Admitting to having “been extremely shocked” when he learned the ins and outs of this situation, the technician who supervised Simona Halep wonders “how things could have happened differently” after what the Romanian experienced.
Mouratoglou: “The damage is done”
The management of this whole affair remains a question mark for Patrick Mouratoglou. “For a player, who tested positive at a rate higher than the minimum of the substance, the ITIA decided to put it in the press and make it public,” he recalled in this message on social networks. For another player, they kept it a secret. Why? It makes absolutely no sense.” The coach considers that “this contributes to a lack of transparency and equal treatment” and that “cases should be treated in the same way” whether it concerns a man or a woman. However, Patrick Mouratoglou is convinced that “the way the ITIA handled the case of Jannik Sinner is the right one.” “Until his guilt or innocence has been proven, I don’t think the case should be made public,” he concluded. Because after all, the damage is done and it is very difficult to recover from it. “For Jannik Sinner, beyond a necessarily tarnished image, this affair will have cost him 400 points and all of his winnings in the last Masters 1000 in Indian Wells, the tournament during which the positive tests were carried out.
