Jannik Sinner’s sacked former fitness trainer has claimed he warned ex-physio Giacomo Naldi not to allow a trofodermin spray anywhere near the tennis star. Umberto Ferrara and Naldi were both axed from Sinner’s team after he was cleared of wrongdoing over twice testing positive for banned substance clostebol in March 2024.
However, the world No. 1 is now serving a three-month ban after the World Anti-doping Agency (WADA) appealed that decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, claiming an athlete must bear some responsibility for the negligence of their team. Sinner was found to have been contaminated after Naldi, who had used the trofodermin spray suggested to him by Ferrara on his own cut, gave the Italian a massage. A very small sample of clostebol, a steroid banned by WAD but which is an ingredient in the spray, was found in the 23-year-old’s system at Indian Wells last year.
Asked why he had the spray, fitness trainer Ferrara told Gazzetta dello Sport: “I have been using it for years because it was prescribed by a specialist as a support drug for a chronic disease. I was perfectly aware of the ban and I have always kept it with the utmost caution, in my personal beauty case.
“I did not give anything to Naldi, I suggested its use because he had a cut on a finger that did not heal and made his work difficult. I was very clear in communicating to Naldi the nature of the product and the need for it not to come into contact with Jannik for any reason. In fact, I allowed its use only inside my personal bathroom. Naldi did not deny having been informed, but said he did not remember.
“When I heard about the positivity I felt incredulity and amazement. Hearing about clostebol the connection with trofodermin was immediate. In a few hours we reconstructed the steps that led to Jannik’s contamination, providing evidence of the purchase of the spray at a pharmacy in Bologna.
“With hindsight, I would certainly no longer rely on the behaviour of others. I have suffered from the superficiality, sometimes aggravated by bad faith, with which many people have treated my position in the affair.”
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