Daniil Medvedev voices concern on inconsistent doping cases

Russia’s tennis star Daniil Medvedev has called for equal treatment in doping cases after a recent scandal involving Italy’s Jannik Sinner. The reigning world number one player has been in the news recently for the wrong reasons after being tested positive for banned substances on two occasions.

Interestingly, despite that, Sinner managed to narrowly escape any ban as the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) accepted the player’s response, in which he claimed that the substance's minimal availability in his sample was due to a mistake from one of his coaching staff.

Medvedev, who is currently in New York to play in the US Open 2024, became the latest high-profile player to weigh in on the debate. The world number five believes that no one is actually aware of what happened in Sinner’s case but calls for a similar treatment of all players who are found positive in a doping test.

“My perspective is it’s only him who knows what happened exactly,” he said. “So we cannot know. Nobody knows the exact truth except him and his team and maybe the Independent Tribunal. I hope this situation can be the same for every player and every player can defend himself because I think what he did was within the rules. It’s just the rules are a bit vague. I just hope it’s the same treatment for every player.”

Sinner, who is already regarded as one of the best players currently playing in men’s tennis along with Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz and Serbia’s legendary tennis star Novak Djokovic, is also taking part in the US Open where he booked his spot in the second round after beating America’s Mackenzie McDonald in a four-set encounter with a score of 2-6, 6-2, 6-1, 6-2. On the other hand, Medvedev has also booked his spot in the second round in New York after beating Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic with a score of 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1.