WEBVTT - The doping scandals overshadowing the Australian Open 0:00:01.360 --> 0:00:03.840 From Schwartz Media. I'm Ruby Jones. 0:00:04.440 --> 0:00:10.640 This is seven AM. 0:00:10.760 --> 0:00:11.200 Right now. 0:00:11.360 --> 0:00:14.600 Yarnick Sinner is defending his title as the world's best 0:00:14.640 --> 0:00:18.160 male tennis player at the Australian Open, but come April, 0:00:18.320 --> 0:00:21.520 he'll be defending himself in another arena, in the court 0:00:21.560 --> 0:00:25.439 of arbitration for sport. Last year, the tennis world was 0:00:25.480 --> 0:00:29.120 shocked by revelations that both Sinner and women's world number 0:00:29.120 --> 0:00:33.840 two Egos Fantec had tested positive for banned substances. Their 0:00:33.880 --> 0:00:37.400 cases were dealt with in private, raising questions about whether 0:00:37.440 --> 0:00:41.640 their high profiles and considerable resources gave them an unfair 0:00:41.680 --> 0:00:45.960 advantage when it came to dodging public scrutiny. Today's sports 0:00:46.040 --> 0:00:48.320 journalist and author of the sub Stack, But do you 0:00:48.360 --> 0:00:52.560 actually like sport? Molly mcelwey on the twin doping scandals 0:00:52.600 --> 0:01:07.880 overshadowing the Australian Open. It's Tuesday, January twenty one. Molly, 0:01:08.040 --> 0:01:10.640 Welcome to seven AM. Thank you for coming on the show. 0:01:10.800 --> 0:01:11.800 Thank you for having me. 0:01:12.440 --> 0:01:15.880 So there is one player in particular that I want 0:01:15.959 --> 0:01:18.440 to ask you about. He's a favorite to win. He 0:01:18.760 --> 0:01:22.160 won last year and he's currently the top ranked men's 0:01:22.200 --> 0:01:23.000 player in the world. 0:01:23.400 --> 0:01:26.520 Sinner. What can you tell me about him? Well, Yannick Center. 0:01:26.760 --> 0:01:28.280 Like you say, he's the world number one. 0:01:28.319 --> 0:01:32.520 He's a reigning champion in Melbourne and twenty twenty four 0:01:32.640 --> 0:01:34.760 was really the year of Yannick Center. 0:01:36.680 --> 0:01:40.720 And that's a great sunsation away the Yanick centner. 0:01:41.360 --> 0:01:46.039 So when the Australian Open, he's mad and major happens 0:01:46.120 --> 0:01:46.760 in Melbourne. 0:01:47.720 --> 0:01:50.600 Was the Open last year was his first Grand Slam title. 0:01:50.960 --> 0:01:55.200 He also won the US Open in September, lad th 0:01:55.440 --> 0:01:56.000 first pay. 0:01:55.920 --> 0:01:59.559 Sooner has Josh what the US Hulburn six foot seventy 0:01:59.600 --> 0:02:03.520 five and the Davis Cup with Italy. Yeah, and once 0:02:03.640 --> 0:02:06.880 more he Annic Sinner just too good. 0:02:07.600 --> 0:02:12.200 It's back to back Davis Cup titles. In this golden 0:02:12.280 --> 0:02:13.960 age of Italian tennis. 0:02:14.680 --> 0:02:17.800 He kind of swept through tennis with such ease. 0:02:17.880 --> 0:02:20.480 In a way, he's a player that kind of smothers 0:02:20.520 --> 0:02:24.080 his opponents. He's got an incredible game that allows him 0:02:24.120 --> 0:02:27.880 to kind of dominate other players. He's very complete, which 0:02:27.960 --> 0:02:30.359 is quite rare for someone so young. 0:02:30.440 --> 0:02:31.119 He's twenty three. 0:02:31.240 --> 0:02:35.280 But his character kind of defies maybe the Italian stereotypes. 0:02:35.840 --> 0:02:39.040 I think people expecting an Italian tennis player to be 0:02:39.200 --> 0:02:41.639 kind of fiery, to be passionate on court, to kind 0:02:41.639 --> 0:02:45.360 of bring that emotion, whereas Sinner is the complete opposite. 0:02:45.440 --> 0:02:48.280 He keeps a lit in his emotions throughout matches also 0:02:48.440 --> 0:02:49.280 off the court as well. 0:02:50.440 --> 0:02:52.440 And you're defending champion here, So what is it that 0:02:52.560 --> 0:02:55.160 you love about Australia, these fans, this court? 0:02:55.200 --> 0:02:57.040 What is it that you love about this this country? 0:02:57.840 --> 0:03:02.840 So many things, But you know, moostly the crowd and 0:03:02.919 --> 0:03:05.480 the fan they give me so much support. 0:03:06.200 --> 0:03:09.120 But for sure he's one of the players who is 0:03:09.360 --> 0:03:12.400 being looked at, along with Carlos al Grazers, the future 0:03:12.520 --> 0:03:16.120 of men's tennis. But there's also this kind of dark 0:03:16.160 --> 0:03:18.440 cloud hanging over him as well because he failed two 0:03:18.520 --> 0:03:19.919 drug tests in twenty twenty four. 0:03:20.440 --> 0:03:23.280 Okay, well let's talk about that. Then tell me about 0:03:23.360 --> 0:03:26.200 the drug tests he failed and about how that came about. 0:03:26.639 --> 0:03:32.480 So it all started for Sinner last March, breaking news 0:03:32.560 --> 0:03:36.280 concerning the men's number one Yonick. Sinner tested positive twice 0:03:36.360 --> 0:03:39.600 for a band anabolic steroid at Indian Worlds in March. 0:03:40.160 --> 0:03:43.720 Sinna very quickly told the ITA, which is the International 0:03:43.840 --> 0:03:46.880 Tennis Integrity Agency, that he had an explanation for it. 0:03:46.960 --> 0:03:50.400 They figured out that the source of the possible in 0:03:50.480 --> 0:03:54.600 his system must have come from his physiotherapist who had 0:03:54.640 --> 0:03:57.720 sprayed a cut on his own hand with a substance 0:03:57.760 --> 0:04:01.640 that contained the steroid, and then through a massage session 0:04:01.720 --> 0:04:06.080 he had with Sinner, had inadvertently sprayed that healing spraid 0:04:06.240 --> 0:04:07.040 into his skin. 0:04:08.040 --> 0:04:11.640 Trace elements less than a billionth of a gram of constables. 0:04:11.680 --> 0:04:13.240 That is really a small amount. 0:04:13.520 --> 0:04:15.160 It's kind of a convolution explanation. 0:04:15.400 --> 0:04:19.960 But the Itia accepted it and ultimately found that Sinner 0:04:20.000 --> 0:04:23.720 bore no fault, no negligence in the case, and he 0:04:23.839 --> 0:04:27.640 had not intentionally done anything to dope. The interesting thing 0:04:27.760 --> 0:04:30.159 is that the public didn't find out about these failed 0:04:30.200 --> 0:04:31.719 drugs tests until all this. 0:04:32.800 --> 0:04:36.360 March this year. We didn't know this, but he tested 0:04:36.480 --> 0:04:39.040 twice at the time, we didn't know this, twice positive 0:04:39.120 --> 0:04:40.600 for a constable. 0:04:40.320 --> 0:04:42.240 Which is and that was on the eve of the 0:04:42.560 --> 0:04:44.400 US Open, which he went on to win. 0:04:44.680 --> 0:04:48.480 So it's a strange scenario where the one of the humblayer, 0:04:48.600 --> 0:04:51.559 the guy who's kind of dominating the sport, he fails 0:04:51.600 --> 0:04:53.560 to drug tests and no one kind of finds out 0:04:53.760 --> 0:04:57.640 about it until the agency in charge of doping in 0:04:57.760 --> 0:05:00.839 the sport decides that he bought no negli and he's 0:05:01.279 --> 0:05:04.640 not going to suffer kind of any huge consequences beyond 0:05:05.160 --> 0:05:07.960 losing his prize money from the two tournaments that he 0:05:08.320 --> 0:05:10.320 was competing in at the time with the failed drug 0:05:10.360 --> 0:05:13.400 tests and losing his ranking points from those events. 0:05:17.000 --> 0:05:19.960 Okay, And so I know that Sinner isn't the only 0:05:20.600 --> 0:05:23.080 high profile player to have found himself in a situation 0:05:23.240 --> 0:05:25.360 like this recently. Can you tell me a bit about 0:05:25.360 --> 0:05:25.760 the others? 0:05:26.320 --> 0:05:30.920 Yeah, So, along with Sinner, Egosiontech through for the last 0:05:30.960 --> 0:05:32.719 two years has been the world number one. She's now 0:05:32.760 --> 0:05:36.200 the world number two, five time Grand Slam champion. She 0:05:36.360 --> 0:05:38.280 also failed a drug test last year. 0:05:38.640 --> 0:05:42.560 The International Tennis Integrity Agency have confirmed that eagashion Tech 0:05:43.000 --> 0:05:46.760 has accepted a one month suspension under the Tennis Anti 0:05:46.839 --> 0:05:47.520 Doping program. 0:05:47.600 --> 0:05:51.000 After that, she tested positive for a kind of heart 0:05:51.080 --> 0:05:54.840 medication it's called TMZ. She put it down to contamination 0:05:55.040 --> 0:05:57.120 of some medication that she had been taking for years 0:05:57.279 --> 0:05:59.440 for fatigue and for jet lag. 0:06:00.360 --> 0:06:02.279 But I got to say, yeah, for sure, it wasn't easy. 0:06:02.320 --> 0:06:04.080 You know, it was probably like the worst time in 0:06:04.200 --> 0:06:08.600 my life and just having the feeling that everything, you 0:06:08.680 --> 0:06:12.320 know that I kind of built can be taken away 0:06:12.400 --> 0:06:15.040 so quickly because of something you have no control over. 0:06:15.480 --> 0:06:17.680 It just it was pretty crazy for me, and. 0:06:17.880 --> 0:06:21.480 The ITIA and her team were able to establish that 0:06:21.920 --> 0:06:24.840 the batch of the medication that she had taken had 0:06:24.960 --> 0:06:28.960 been contaminated and it was dealt with pretty quickly. She 0:06:29.080 --> 0:06:32.080 tested positive in August, she competed at the US Open 0:06:32.680 --> 0:06:35.280 and then she was given a one month ban, but 0:06:35.400 --> 0:06:38.320 she was able to play out that ban kind of 0:06:38.440 --> 0:06:41.440 in private. She basically told people that she was suffered 0:06:41.480 --> 0:06:44.080 from fatigue and she had changed coaches, so she was 0:06:44.160 --> 0:06:46.440 taking a break from the sport for a month. I mean, 0:06:46.480 --> 0:06:48.480 in staiom Tics case, that's kind of been resolved. She 0:06:48.640 --> 0:06:51.480 served her one month ban. But in the case of Sinner, 0:06:51.960 --> 0:06:56.479 we now have this ongoing saga because WADA have come 0:06:56.560 --> 0:06:59.680 back and appealed the itia's decision. 0:06:59.400 --> 0:07:00.479 On his case. 0:07:01.320 --> 0:07:04.680 Sinner's Australian Open campaign is being overshadowed by a new 0:07:04.720 --> 0:07:07.839 twist in his ongoing doping drama. Well Blake, the World 0:07:07.960 --> 0:07:09.640 Anti Doping Agency, has. 0:07:09.560 --> 0:07:12.840 Appealed the decision that originally cleared Yannick Cinner after he 0:07:12.960 --> 0:07:16.120 tested positive to steroids twice in twenty twenty four. 0:07:16.280 --> 0:07:18.200 That's going to play out in April and they are 0:07:18.280 --> 0:07:21.560 actually seeking a one to two year bad for him, 0:07:21.720 --> 0:07:25.000 so that could have huge consequences for the sport. All 0:07:25.080 --> 0:07:27.840 the while they played up the Straight and Open this month. 0:07:28.200 --> 0:07:30.920 I mean, what is the conversation that's happening amongst the 0:07:31.000 --> 0:07:34.840 tennis community right now then around whether or not someone 0:07:35.000 --> 0:07:37.800 like Sinner, whose case I suppose now is a bit 0:07:37.960 --> 0:07:40.000 up in the air, should be able to play at 0:07:40.040 --> 0:07:41.080 the Australian Open. 0:07:41.200 --> 0:07:42.640 Given the situation I. 0:07:42.640 --> 0:07:45.720 Mean on the court, it seems like adverc being is 0:07:45.920 --> 0:07:47.040 kind of business as usual. 0:07:47.240 --> 0:07:48.400 You've got Center. 0:07:48.680 --> 0:07:53.880 Dam overcoming adversity, massive result for Yanick Center. 0:07:54.480 --> 0:07:56.760 But he is through to the quart of finance. 0:07:57.760 --> 0:08:01.000 It didn't seem like there was any animal coming from 0:08:01.240 --> 0:08:05.760 the Melbourne cloud here. But we've had people including Curious, 0:08:05.760 --> 0:08:08.559 for example, a huge name in tennis in Australian sport. 0:08:08.880 --> 0:08:13.040 He's called the entire episode disgusting. It's been handled horrifically 0:08:13.160 --> 0:08:13.760 in our sport. 0:08:13.840 --> 0:08:16.840 And two world number ones both getting done for doping 0:08:17.000 --> 0:08:18.400 is disgusting for our sport. 0:08:18.480 --> 0:08:22.000 It's it's a horrible look. Really been heavily cristical of Sinner. 0:08:22.160 --> 0:08:24.800 If my physiotherapist contamine that in me and put me 0:08:24.840 --> 0:08:26.240 in this position, I'd be I'd probably never talk to 0:08:26.280 --> 0:08:26.760 the guy again. 0:08:27.000 --> 0:08:28.480 But he had the guy in these team for five 0:08:28.520 --> 0:08:32.120 months acting like nothing happened. That's SAE susage anything. If 0:08:32.160 --> 0:08:32.599 you ask me. 0:08:33.400 --> 0:08:36.360 It's a really dark cloud that has kind of been 0:08:36.480 --> 0:08:40.600 hovering over tennis. And there's other players who've spoken about 0:08:40.600 --> 0:08:44.839 whether this process has been fair. Someone like two time 0:08:44.880 --> 0:08:48.520 grands I'm champion and another formal world number one, Simona 0:08:48.600 --> 0:08:51.959 Hallop has accused the IDIA of dealing with these two 0:08:52.040 --> 0:08:55.400 cases very differently than how they dealt with Her own 0:08:55.960 --> 0:08:59.760 has dragged out for nearly two years. She received four 0:08:59.840 --> 0:09:02.280 year ban for failing her drug test and how to 0:09:02.360 --> 0:09:04.920 appeal it, and it was eventually reduced to nine months, 0:09:05.520 --> 0:09:09.040 But for her it stinks of being unfair because her 0:09:09.120 --> 0:09:12.000 case was dealt with in a very public way, whereas 0:09:12.080 --> 0:09:15.679 the swimtech and sins what not. And I think the 0:09:15.960 --> 0:09:19.680 main issue here is not the individual cases, but rather 0:09:20.280 --> 0:09:23.240 what this whole saga says about the way that we 0:09:23.480 --> 0:09:27.880 deal with doping and drug testing in sport and whether 0:09:28.080 --> 0:09:32.160 the systems are completely there, whether it's a completely equal 0:09:32.240 --> 0:09:33.439 playing field for everyone. 0:09:36.160 --> 0:09:38.680 Coming up after the break. What happens when you fail 0:09:38.720 --> 0:09:50.360 a drug test and you don't have millions to defend yourself. Molly, 0:09:50.480 --> 0:09:53.560 can we talk a bit more about the equal playing field? 0:09:53.679 --> 0:09:56.959 What does the Sinner and Swantech saga tell you about 0:09:57.000 --> 0:09:59.439 what it requires to get through something. 0:09:59.320 --> 0:10:03.800 Like this unscathed. I mean, the itia maintains that every 0:10:03.920 --> 0:10:05.040 player is treated the same. 0:10:05.400 --> 0:10:08.120 But the problem with the process is that if you 0:10:08.240 --> 0:10:12.800 have more resources available like Sinner, like Siontech, you can 0:10:13.320 --> 0:10:15.720 get through the process quicker, and that makes a huge 0:10:15.760 --> 0:10:19.040 difference to where you ultimately will end up in your career. 0:10:19.120 --> 0:10:22.400 I mean, Top has earned thirty three million US dollars 0:10:22.600 --> 0:10:25.520 in career prize money, Sinner has earned thirty seven. 0:10:25.679 --> 0:10:28.240 Like, they've got a lot of resources behind them. 0:10:28.280 --> 0:10:32.079 They have huge management teams, they've got sponsors, they keep 0:10:32.160 --> 0:10:34.959 track with everything they put in their body, from food, 0:10:35.400 --> 0:10:38.240 from supplements, from medication. 0:10:38.760 --> 0:10:42.600 Whereas if you're a player outside the top one hundred, 0:10:42.800 --> 0:10:45.839 top two hundred, you can barely afford to have a coach. 0:10:46.040 --> 0:10:49.439 So how are you going to assemble this kind of 0:10:49.800 --> 0:10:53.680 incredible team to defend you. It's something that a British 0:10:53.760 --> 0:10:57.079 player in recent years, Tara Moore has spoken about a lot. 0:10:58.000 --> 0:10:59.679 I think I have one of the most crazy stories 0:10:59.720 --> 0:11:02.760 on the tour. You know, I went to Columbia, failed 0:11:02.760 --> 0:11:05.760 the drug test out there, and it's just something I 0:11:05.880 --> 0:11:07.560 never thought I would go through. 0:11:07.640 --> 0:11:10.880 Because she was outside the top one hundred, trying to 0:11:10.960 --> 0:11:15.400 build her career, and when she tested positive for banned substance, 0:11:15.679 --> 0:11:17.880 she ended up losing nineteen months of her career. 0:11:18.040 --> 0:11:20.720 You know, even if in this country, if you murder someone, 0:11:21.200 --> 0:11:23.319 you have the right to a trial, you have the 0:11:23.400 --> 0:11:25.640 right to a lawyer, you have the right, but this 0:11:25.840 --> 0:11:27.760 is like almost the opposite. If you don't have the 0:11:27.840 --> 0:11:30.079 money or the funds, you're guilty. 0:11:30.360 --> 0:11:34.280 It took her longer to prove the source of her 0:11:34.320 --> 0:11:37.400 failed JOUB test. It's been found that hers. 0:11:37.280 --> 0:11:38.600 Was also a case of contamination. 0:11:39.240 --> 0:11:41.000 But in order to get to the point where she 0:11:41.040 --> 0:11:45.720 could prove that she had already fallen six hundred ranking places. 0:11:45.920 --> 0:11:48.640 She's now thousands of pounds in debt to the lawyers 0:11:48.679 --> 0:11:51.520 that she had to employ at different points in this process, 0:11:52.000 --> 0:11:54.360 and her career is kind of in tatters. 0:11:55.080 --> 0:11:57.640 Yeah, I mean, I think the stakes couldn't be higher 0:11:57.720 --> 0:12:00.360 in the sense that people want to be able to 0:12:00.440 --> 0:12:03.719 trust that the person they're seeing win actually did win 0:12:03.920 --> 0:12:06.000 and did win fairly totally. 0:12:06.080 --> 0:12:08.280 I mean, we've seen how that has played out in 0:12:08.760 --> 0:12:12.960 much more dramatic ways in other sports, in cycling, for example, 0:12:13.080 --> 0:12:16.599 with the huge kind of drug scandal that erupted in 0:12:16.720 --> 0:12:18.520 the start of the centuries. 0:12:18.600 --> 0:12:22.079 It's kind of a huge, a huge issue for fans. 0:12:22.120 --> 0:12:24.599 People want to be able to get behind people and 0:12:24.720 --> 0:12:27.920 to trust that they are superhuman because they are just 0:12:28.000 --> 0:12:30.480 so good at the sport, not because of any other reason. 0:12:32.320 --> 0:12:33.880 What does it say about the future of Dennis if 0:12:34.080 --> 0:12:37.280 you've got a player like Sinna, who if in acrol 0:12:37.679 --> 0:12:41.800 his appeal happens and he loses and he's given a 0:12:41.960 --> 0:12:44.719 one or two year ban, how do we look back 0:12:44.800 --> 0:12:47.760 on these last few months, How does history kind of 0:12:48.160 --> 0:12:51.679 correct itself? Will we look at these titles as titles 0:12:51.720 --> 0:12:54.000 that need to have kind of an asterisk alongside it, 0:12:54.120 --> 0:12:58.760 because someone like Sinner, of his profile, his stature, his ability, 0:12:59.200 --> 0:13:02.200 he's playing for a space and the kind of history books, 0:13:04.080 --> 0:13:06.800 and it raises all kinds of questions about whether a 0:13:06.840 --> 0:13:09.640 player should continue playing while this process. 0:13:09.320 --> 0:13:10.040 Is going on. 0:13:10.960 --> 0:13:13.679 It's a very kind of delicate balance you've got to 0:13:13.960 --> 0:13:16.400 find in this sport. And I think there's a lot 0:13:16.440 --> 0:13:19.600 of people right now who are questioning whether the powers 0:13:19.600 --> 0:13:21.719 that we have found that delicate balance at all. 0:13:25.400 --> 0:13:27.520 Well, Mollie, thank you so much for your time. 0:13:28.679 --> 0:13:29.920 Thank you, thanks f having me. 0:13:42.920 --> 0:13:46.880 Also in the news today, Israel has confirmed ninety Palestinian 0:13:46.920 --> 0:13:49.400 prisoners have been freed in the first exchange of the 0:13:49.480 --> 0:13:53.320 ceasefire deal with Hermas. It comes after three hostages freed 0:13:53.360 --> 0:13:56.360 by Hermas have been reunited with their families inside Israel. 0:13:57.160 --> 0:14:00.040 The ceasefire, which came into effect on Sunday, states so 0:14:00.160 --> 0:14:04.040 for every Israeli hostage released, thirty Palestinian prisoners will be 0:14:04.120 --> 0:14:11.439 freed from Israeli jails. 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