World No.1 Jannik Sinner has shaken up his team after the controversy surrounding two positive doping results back in March.
Physiotherapist Giacomo Naldi and fitness coach Umberto Ferrara will no longer treat the Italian star after they were deemed responsible for a Clostebol drug found in Sinner’s system.
Having cut his finger, Naldi used a healing spray to treat the wound which was contaminated with the substance - handed to him by Ferrara who carried it for personal reasons, as Naldi continued to massage Sinner.
The drug is legal in Italy but is still included on the World Anti-Doping Agency's list of banned substances, deemed performance-enhancing.
During Sinner’s press conference for media day ahead of the US Open, the 23-year-old praised the pair for their respective contributions, but confirmed a new chapter will begin.
“First I want to say that they have been a huge part of my career,” Sinner said. “We worked together for two years, we [did] an incredible job bringing a lot of success and having a great team behind me.
"Now, because of these mistakes, I'm not feeling that confident to continue with them. The only thing I just need right now, just some clean air. I was struggling a lot in the last months. Now I was waiting for the result, and now I just need some clean air."
On August 15 as per the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), an independent panel "determined a finding of No Fault or Negligence applied in the case, resulting in no period of ineligibility," adding later on that the positive results were "result of contamination from a support team member, who had been applying an over-the-counter spray containing Clostebol to their own skin to treat a small wound."
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