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Jannik Sinner may be suspended for the French Open and Wimbledon next year, even if he is banned from tennis for a shorter period than has been proposed by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

Sinner tested positive for the anabolic steroid clostebol in March but an independent tribunal accepted his explanation that the banned substance entered his body as a result of a massage from his physio, who had used a spray containing the steroid to treat a cut on their finger.

Yet WADA has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), seeking to impose a ban of up to two years on the 23-year-old Italian.

“It is WADA’s view that the finding of ‘no fault or negligence’ was not correct under the applicable rules,” said WADA in a statement.

“WADA is seeking a period of ineligibility of between one and two years.

WADA is not seeking a disqualification of any results, save that which has already been imposed by the tribunal of first instance.”

It has been confirmed that WADA hearing into their appeal will NOT take place before February next year, ensuring Sinner is allowed to defend his Australian Open title in Melbourne next month.

Yet there is an expectation that the CAS hearing will take place before the French Open in June, which could put Sinner’s participation in that event in huge doubt.

WADA’s call for a suspension of between one and two years for Sinner would be a hammer blow to his career, but there could be a scenario that would see him receive a shorter ban if he is found to be liable at the CAS hearing.

WADA’s stance in previous cases comparable to this has been that all athletes are liable for the substances found in their body, with the CAS hearing likely to examine the small levels of clostebol in Sinner’s system when he failed the test.

That suggests it would not have been performance-enhancing, yet this is a very different case to that of world No 2 Iga Swiatek, who also failed a drug test in August.

The details of her case appear to suggest the positive finding was caused by contamination of the regulated non-prescription medication melatonin, manufactured and sold in Poland, which Swiatek took for jet lag and sleep issues.

Sinner’s story is a little different as he claims the clostebol got into his system after it was used in massage cream containing the substance, with WADA’s stance that athletes need to take responsibility for all substances in their system likely to stand for this case.

However, Sinner will have been encouraged by comments from Oliver Niggli, director of WADA, as he hinted the players may be victims of improved technology after minuscule amounts of the banned substances were found in their systems.

“Today there is a problem of contamination,” Niggli told L’Equipe.

“There are no more (doping cheats) than before, but laboratories are more efficient in detecting infinitesimal quantities of doping substances.

We will have to open a working table to understand how to manage this situation.

“The quantities found are so small that it is possible to become contaminated by doing even trivial things.

“I understand the public, who thinks we are naive and that we believe everything.

But the reality is different. There is a problem.

“If we wanted to simplify our lives, we could impose new thresholds and not find all these cases.

But the real question is Are we ready to accept micro dosing? Where do we stop?