With Jannik Sinner, things just got complicated

Jannik Sinner failed two different drug tests in March for an anabolic steroid that tends to show up in things such as eye cream or body cream. There is a good chance Sinner had no idea how he tested positive and he hasn't seemingly done so since March. He was also found, for all intents and purposes, not guilty of intentionally taking a banned substance.

This is where things get a bit weird with tennis. Simona Halep was banned for four years initially after testing positive for a substance that can be found in collagen. She fought for her innocence and after a year, she was basically cleared of the issue. She was older when her positive test came back, though, and she was no longer fighting for the top ranking on the WTA tour.

Sinner is the complete opposite. How embarrassing would it have been for tennis for the top-ranked player on the ATP tour to be suspended for doping? This is not to say Sinner intentionally did ingest the substance but only that few things happen in tennis without some kind of forethought.

Jannik Sinner goes free when Simona Halep did not

The International Tennis Integrity Agency had few issues with jumping to the conclusion that Halep was guilty when she turned out not to be so. Sinner isn't guilty either, but tennis hid the fact that he had been provisionally suspended, tested positive twice for a banned substance, and then announced to the world Sinner's positive test along with the fact he had not intentionally broken rules.

Oddly, because this is tennis, Sinner will lose the 400 rankings points he accrued for Indian Wells, during which time he had tested positive. He also lost the $325,000 he earned while playing in the event. If Sinner was innocent - and he has been ruled to be so - then why lose money and points? That's dumb. It also makes the sport look like it is covering something up, which it isn't.

Another odd bit is that Major League Baseball suspended Fernando Tatis, Jr., a blooming star in baseball, for 80 games in 2022 for ingesting the same substance Sinner did. MLB is not known for overly harsh suspensions so for baseball to suspend Tatis and tennis not to do the same to Sinner seems weird.

Again, Jannik Sinner was found innocent by the ITIA for doping. He should be allowed to keep playing. The issue is that the sport does not seem consistent with how it hands out bans, and that is going to be a real problem.

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