Sinner doping case already decided: Italy tennis chief

A final verdict in the doping case involving top-ranked Jannik Sinner likely won't come until early next year.

For the president of the Italian tennis federation, though, the case has already been won — in the court of public opinion.

"Apart from a few imbeciles, people all around the world understand what happened," Angelo Binaghi said in an interview with The Associated Press at the ATP Finals on Wednesday.

"No matter what type of decision is issued, there's no doubt that Sinner is one of the cleanest and most honest athletes in world sport."

Sinner is playing at home for the first time since it was announced before his US Open title that he tested positive for an anabolic steroid in two separate drug tests in March.

A decision by an independent tribunal to clear Sinner of wrongdoing was appealed by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in September and the Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) is expected to make a final ruling on the case in 2025.

Sinner's explanation was that the banned performance-enhancer entered his system unintentionally through a massage from his physiotherapist, who had used a spray containing the steroid to treat his own cut finger.

WADA is seeking a ban of one to two years for Sinner.

"It is WADA's view that the finding of 'no fault or negligence' was not correct under the applicable rules," WADA said in September.

Sinner 'very positive' he'll be cleared of wrongdoing

Sinner said last week in response to a question from the AP that he has not been notified yet by CAS of a hearing date.

"No, we don't know nothing yet," Sinner said.

"Look, I've been in this position three times now already, so it's not that great a place to be. But it always came out very positively so I'm very positive."

Meanwhile, Sinner — who claimed his first two grand slam titles at the Australian Open and US Open this year — just keeps on winning.

He won his opening two matches at the ATP Finals in straight sets over Alex de Minaur and Taylor Fritz and next faces Daniil Medvedev on Thursday (Friday AEDT).

Sinner's matches have regularly been drawing bigger TV audiences than top soccer games in Italy, and his quick rise to the top resulted in local fans buying up nearly all of the tickets for the finals.

"There are no foreign spectators; they're all Italian," Binaghi added.

"We have 30,000 fewer foreigners than last year. Divide that by the 15 sessions and that's 2000 less for each session."