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Much has been made of other cases of positive tests for Clostebol – the majority of which come from Italy, where it’s available over the counter as an alternative to creams and sprays we would use in North America – notably, products like Neosporin.

The case of Marco Bortolotti has come up a lot.

Bortolotti, a 33-year-old Italian player whose career high doubles ranking of No. 85 came just last month (he peaked at No. 355 in singles in 2016, and hasn’t played singles since 2022), tested positive for Clostebol in October, 2023 at a Challenger in Lisbon, Portugal. The previous week, he’d won the doubles title in nearby Braga.

As WADA appeals the Jannik Sinner case, there are QUESTIONS

Bortolotti was advised of his right to apply for the lifting of his provisional suspension. He did not, per the available documents, avail himself of that right even though he responded two days later with his explanation.

Bortolotti’s case is redacted, so the full details aren’t known. But he proclaimed he didn’t intentionally cheat; he claimed he was involuntarily contaminated.

A laboratory crunched the science and confirmed that Bortolotti’s explanation was credible, and that it wasn’t an intentional violation. So the maximum two-year period of ineligibility applied.

In this case, despite the redacted details, you can conclude that the Clostebol came from a contaminated product. Because it’s mentioned that that the two-year period can be reduced entirely, to only a reprimand, if the player can establish he bears “no significant fault or negligence”.

(Note that this is not “NO fault”).

So that differs materially from the Sinner case, in which there was no issue of a contaminated supplement.

Also: it was decided at the ITIA level; it never went to an independant tribunal.

You can also conclude that Bortolotti had one more than one positive test, because a footnote indicates “anti-doping rules violations” will be “considered together as one single first Anti-Doping rule violation”.

The ITIA determined that it “could not have reasoably expected Bortolotti to take further precautions” and judged he had “no Fault of Negligence”.

Like Sinner, only the results from the tournament during which he tested positive were removed.

Unlike Sinner, the CAS did not appeal the decision.

The outcome was the same as Sinner’s, as was the prohibited substance. But the details differ significantly.

The Case of Stefano Battaglino

The Stefano Battaglino case is another one that’s been brought up a lot.

But despite the positive test for the same substance – and the somewhat similar story about the fault lying with a physiotherapist – it, also, is materially different.

Battaglino, a 25-year-old with a career-high ranking of No. 536 and a player who competes down at entry-level Futures tournament, tested positive for Clostebol at a $15K ITF in Casablanca, Morocco in Sept. 2022, and was provisionally suspended on Feb. 1, 2023.

Battaglino’s battle with the ITIA was pretty fraught. He disputed the assertion that he’d committed the infraction throughout, despite the positive test. Throughout the hearing he bemoaned the fact that higher-ranked players had their own staff to assist them, while his lowly self didn’t have access to that (which might be quite true, but was irrelevant given a full staff wouldn’t have been able to intervene DURING A MATCH, which is where his offence allegedly occurred).

Battaglino’s contention is that a physiotherapist who massaged a (redacted) injured area with a lotion.

That differs materially with the Sinner case, because the prohibited substance was knowingly applied (whether it was known it was prohibited or not is another matter) by the physio.

This occurred during the second set of a match Battaglino lost 6-4, 6-3. About 90 minutes after the match, he was randomly selected and went through anti-doping. And tested positive. The effect, he claimed, was … THAT quick.

Despite the positive test he could not admit the violation – which is the first step to anything.

Battaglino continued to deny it, and requested that his case be referred to an independant panel, with the explanation the application of the lotion by the physio.

The ITIA and ITF helped him track down the physio in question. But despite repeated attempts, they couldn’t get in touch. Battaglino’s entire defence rested on this.

It doesn’t appear he was only claiming the physio rubbed Clostebol on him; more, he also claimed that it was “probable” that the physio had used it on another athlete and then massaged Battaglino without wearing gloves, causing the Clostebol to contaminate him through his skin.

That would be more of a similarity to the Sinner case although in Battaglino’s case, he only brought it up as one of several possibilities.

The ITIA’s take was that even if you bought the notion that a tournament physio would use a product containing a banned substance (especially one not even readily available in Morocco, reportedly), there was no scenario in which you would use it for the purposes/injury for which Battaglino was being treated (redacted).

Also, that Clostebol is found in spray or creme form, not lotion form. And that it was unlikely that an ITF physio would not discuss the composition of the product he was applying. And that if it had been applied to another player and was still on the physio’s hands (the second scenario) and that he hadn’t washed his hands, it was unlikely that this was the only time the physio would have failed to clean his hands. And if you allow that to be possible, you’d expect there to be other positive tests. Which there weren’t.

So … Battaglino, unlike Sinner, was never able to establish on balance of probability how the Clostebol got into his system.

So that’s four years.

Battaglino appealed the case to the CAS, although he didn’t attend the hearing either on site or via video, and the case was decided on written submissions.

On Sept. 12, the CAS upheld the four-year suspension.

With the massive piece of proof missing – the testimony of the mysterious physio – they also couldn’t buy the story.