Jannik Sinner ban: Daniil Medvedev hopes other players can reach Wada deals in future

Daniil Medvedev says he hopes Jannik Sinner’s doping ban will “create a precedent” so other players can reach similar settlements with anti-doping authorities in the future.

Three-time Grand Slam champion Sinner accepted an immediate three-month ban from the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) on Saturday.

The world number one had previously been cleared of any wrongdoing after two positive drug tests last year, but Wada appealed against the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Wada initially sought a ban of up to two years but reached a deal after accepting the Italian player was inadvertently contaminated by a banned substance and “did not intend to cheat”.

“I hope that the next few times, the players will be able to do that,” Russian world number eight Medvedev said.

“I hope that it will create a precedent where everyone will have the opportunity to defend themselves better than before.

“Otherwise, if it’s not going to be possible, it’s going to be bizarre.”

Wada said it had entered into a settlement agreement with Sinner for a shorter ban under provision 10.8.2 in its code.

A spokesperson told BBC Sport on Saturday: “This provision was introduced to the code in 2021. Since then it has been used dozens of times for cases with exceptional circumstances such as this one.

“Given there are many thousands of cases, it is not used that often and is the exception rather than the rule but there has been plenty of precedent for this.”