"It's just an individual situation": Daniil Medvedev disagrees with Carlos Alcaraz on Jannik Sinner doping case

Russia’s tennis star Daniil Medvedev has stated that he is in a same boat as Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz about the ongoing doping scandal of Italy’s Jannik Sinner. The reigning world number one is going through a difficult time ever since he was tested positive for banned substance clostebol in March in two different tests.

Despite that, Sinner managed to escape a ban as the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), in a detailed statement, announced that they accepted the player’s counsel’s response where they claimed that the availability of the banned substance in minimal quantity in the player’s sample was because of receiving cream from a member of the coaching staff.

It first looked like the matter was closed, but on Saturday, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) announced that it had lodged an appeal against the verdict in front of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), where it demanded a ‘one or two-year suspension’ for the two-time Grand Slam winner.

On Sunday, world number three Alcaraz was asked about the developments. He stated that the whole affair was damaging for tennis and showed some sympathy towards his fellow tennis players as well. Russia’s Medvedev, currently taking part in the China Open, where he is set to face Spain’s Alcaraz in the semifinal, was recently quoted in a report stating that he is in the same boat as the Spaniard about the issue. However, the world number five does not agree with the four-time Grand Slam winner that the issue damages tennis.

“My view is always on these things is kind of try to distance myself where the situation is very tough for him [Sinner], for sure, to deal with it,” he said. “As I always said, no one wants to be in this situation. It's a tricky situation. I want to say he does what he needs to do. WADA does probably what they need to do. Let's see how it finishes. We thought maybe it was finished, but no. Yeah, I'm the same a little bit like Carlos. I'm sympathetic to Jannik. I don't think it has a bad, really bad look in tennis because I think, yeah, if top-10 players suddenly would be on the same substance or something, it would be different. I think it's just an individual situation which we'll see how it ends.”