Doping cases Michel Hessmann (Visma) and Jannik Sinner (tennis) an example of how things might also be done?

Cycling has a doping label that will probably never go away. Years of reaching for banned substances in a completely different era may have ruined the sport forever, since even today’s top stars face doping questions almost daily. Now that there’s a major soap opera unfolding in tennis with Jannik Sinner, some are pointing an accusing finger at how it was handled. But is that really fair?

Jannik Sinner, for those who don’t know him: the 23-year-old Italian has been a major figure in the tennis world for several years. In fact, he has been so dominant over the past year and a half that he is now the world number one, recently winning his second consecutive title at the Australian Open—the first of the four so-called Grand Slams in tennis.

However, Sinner has been a much-discussed athlete for several months now, and not only because of his performance. In March 2024, he tested positive twice for the banned substance clostebol. He was not suspended and was able to demonstrate after a few weeks that he had apparently gotten the substance in his blood through his physiotherapist’s hands. Sinner was allowed to play again—and he performed excellently.

The tennis world has been (and continues to be) slamming the case. The anti-doping authority WADA challenged the initial verdict (i.e., acquittal) and took the matter to the international sports tribunal CAS. There, Sinner faced a maximum doping suspension of two years. However, WADA and Sinner reached a settlement: a three-month suspension, without the loss of titles, ranking points, or prize money earned so far. He is allowed to play again on May 5.

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Cycling and tennis worlds slam doping use

There was a lot of criticism coming from the tennis world. Fellow tennis player Nick Kyrgios (Australia) called it "a sad day for tennis" and stated that "justice does not exist." But over the past few months, other sports have also been talking a great deal about the case. "What if the caught Jannik Sinner weren’t a tennis player but the world’s best cyclist?" wondered AD journalist Thijs Zonneveld, for example.

The question is logical, because cyclists are under a magnifying glass. There are biological passports, where every minute of the day must be documented by the athlete. If there is even a tiny bit of a banned substance in the blood, a suspension follows quickly. If it later turns out to be unfounded, a cyclist often doesn’t get away with it, simply because it costs a lot of money to pay for lawsuits. There is simply no room for cycling, doing what Sinner did.

Just ask Alberto Contador, who still maintains to this day that he was punished too harshly in 2010 with a two-year suspension for having once 0.0000000005 grams of clembuterol in his body during a doping test. He even lost titles because of it. There are many cyclists who openly advocate for (systematic) doping use, but in recent years, cyclists who always denied it have also disappeared from the scene.

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Are Sinner and others being favored or are cyclists actually punished too harshly?

Now that cycling has long considered itself to be cleaner and claims to be so, it may be time to assess banned substances more fairly. This is what the UCI recently did in the case of German rider Michel Hessmann, who tested positive for Chlortalidone in 2023 while riding for Visma | Lease a Bike. He was provisionally suspended while the investigation was ongoing, but both parties were eventually able to prove that the substance entered his system through a "contaminated medication."

Hessmann received the lightest possible suspension of four months, three of which he had already served during his provisional suspension at Visma | Lease a Bike. This allowed him to transfer to Movistar over the winter and continue his career. His suspension mainly stemmed from the responsibility that athletes bear for the intake of food, medication, and drinks. Even if it happens accidentally, the argument goes, you should have been more careful.

This seems to be the case with Sinner as well, as evidenced by WADA dropping its case at CAS and reaching a settlement with the Italian. Like Hessmann, Sinner pointed to the minuscule amount of clostebol found in his system, providing receipts and other evidence. Though there is debate over whether all that evidence is truly conclusive, the tennis federation had already accepted his explanation—just as the German anti-doping authority had done earlier in Hessmann’s case. Instead of a two-year suspension for 0.0000000005 grams, a warning of just a few months was issued.

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Michel Hessmann

Has elite sports become blind to justice?

When Kyrgios and others talk about justice, is it because they truly believe Sinner is guilty after hearing all the explanations? Or is it because elite sports in 2025 no longer seem open to reasoned arguments? Of course, there are hundreds of past examples—footballers and other athletes who used doping but were never suspended. This has long been a thorn in the side of cycling and athletics, where so-called "cheaters" face the harshest consequences.

However, the cases of Hessmann and Sinner also show that an athlete’s career doesn’t have to be destroyed before guilt is even established and a thorough explanation is provided. One could argue that it would have been better to suspend Sinner while WADA conducted its investigation, especially since the case was already known to those involved. But if, during that time, a reasonable explanation emerges for what appears to be a simple mistake, why continue with harsh words about justice? Haven’t too many athletes already been suspended for years without clear-cut evidence as to why?

Those who knowingly cheat should be punished severely. And it also makes sense that in cycling, an athlete is often presumed guilty until proven otherwise, rather than the other way around. Perhaps that should happen more often in other sports as well. The weight of history still looms heavily over cycling. But do the cases of Hessmann and Sinner serve as examples of how things could be handled differently? Should we first listen to explanations and examine evidence before rushing into legal battles?

In my opinion, just asking the question is enough to answer it…

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