WADA settlement on three-month ban not unique to Sinner case, says chief counsel

Jannik Sinner accepting an immediate three-month ban after reaching a settlement with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is not unique to the case of the men's world number one, WADA's chief counsel said.

Sinner was cleared of wrongdoing after testing positive for the anabolic agent clostebol but accepted the ban after WADA was ready to appeal the decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), where he risked a suspension of up to two years.

The ban will allow Sinner to return before the French Open in May and although he will miss Masters tournaments, the decision has been criticised by current and former players and described as "too convenient".

However, Ross Wenzel, the chief counsel of WADA Tennis, said that although Sinner did no wrong, it was the anti-doping body's duty to appeal the decision as athletes bear responsibility for their negligence by members of their support team.

"We appealed it because of the responsibility that athletes have under our rules, under the code for their entourage... We struck a case resolution agreement, which WADA has entered into 70-odd of these in the last four years," Wenzel told Reuters.

"This is not something that is unique to the case of Mr Sinner. We've done it with athletes at all levels.

"The facts of this case are there for everyone to see and to read. We feel that we've been transparent in the way that we've handled it.

"We feel that given the unique facts of this case ... a three-month period of ineligibility is the right one and a fair one."

NEGATIVE SAMPLES

Wenzel said WADA looked back at all of Sinner's samples for the 12 months prior to the two positive ones in March, and they all came back as negative.

"There was nothing.. it might be a complex factual scenario, but