"How can you negotiate a suspension?": Former French cyclist also questions WADA, Jannik Sinner agreement for three-month suspension

Former French cyclist Jerome Pineau has become the latest high-profile personality from the world of sports to raise concern about the agreement between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and Italy’s Jannik Sinner. The 23-year-old, who is often regarded as the best player currently playing in men’s singles category, has been in the news for wrong reasons ever since he was tested positive for two doping tests in March last year for the banned substance clostebol.

Sinner, interestingly, managed to escape any punishment as the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) declared him innocent following a detailed hearing where his counsel claimed that the substance was available in the player’s sample because one member of the coaching staff had received a cream for the treatment of an injury.

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The case, however, was not finished then as WADA appealed against the ITIA’s verdict in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and demanded a two-year ban for the three-time Grand Slam winner in October last year. The case finally concluded on Saturday as WADA announced that they have reached an agreement with Sinner, which will result in the player remaining out of action for three months.

“The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) confirms that it has entered into a case resolution agreement in the case of Italian tennis player Jannik Sinner, with the player accepting a three-month period of ineligibility for an anti-doping rule violation that led to him testing positive for clostebol, a prohibited substance, in March 2024,” said the statement.

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The development received serious backlash from the tennis where a lot of active players, including the Serbia’s legendary tennis star Novak Djokovic, questions the overall proceedings of the case. Former French cyclist Pineau has recently appeared in a show where he also questioned the overall agreement between the two parties. He stated that if Sinner would have been a cyclist, he would have been banned for two years for such an offence. "If he's a cyclist, number 1 as he is, he gets two years,” he said. “How can you negotiate a suspension? You're either doping or not. Stop making fun of people. It's scandalous."

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