Daniil Medvedev (right) has spoken out after Jannik Sinner was handed a three-month ban (Image: GETTY)
has insisted ’s is a “good signal” for tennis if it means other players can defend themselves to the authorities in similar circumstances. Sinner will be prohibited from competing until the start of May after the World Anti-Doping Agency sanctioned him on Saturday.
Sinner failed two anti-doping tests last spring after testing positive for clostebol during Indian Wells.
But the Italian argued that he had only come into contact with the substance after his physio had used it to remedy a cut on his own finger before spreading it when he subsequently treated the tennis star as part of his usual routine.
Medvedev has been in action at the Open 13 in Marseille this week, where he suffered a shock defeat against Serbian ace Hamad Medjedovic in the semi-finals.
And after that showdown, he spoke out about Sinner’s ban as he addressed the issue in his post-match press conference.
Medvedev, who was speaking in French during the conference, explained: “I hope that from now on everyone can talk to WADA and if they tell you, ‘We found this, it’s been two years’, you answer, ‘No, I want one month’. I hope it will set a precedent. Otherwise it would be strange.
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Jannik Sinner won the Australian Open in January but has now been banned until May (Image: GETTY)
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“I hope that everyone will have the right to represent themselves. Because sometimes some people don’t have the money for a lawyer – he (Sinner) does himself.
“And maybe he will have, I don’t know, if he reads the contract or the rules, maybe he has the same possibilities.
“So it’s the only thing that I hope because it’s a bad signal if it’s only him that can do this. But it’s a very good signal if after that everyone can do this.”
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Medvedev and Sinner have gone head-to-head on the court on 15 occasions, with the Italian holding a narrow advantage after winning eight of those matches.
The duo met in three Grand Slams last year, with in the final to hand Sinner his maiden Major title.
Medvedev got the better of his rival in the quarter-finals in the summer after coming out on the right side of another five-set thriller, but then lost to the 23-year-old in the last-eight of the US Open.
And the two stars could meet in one of the three remaining Grand Slams this year, with Sinner’s ban set to end on May 4. The French Open will get underway on May 19, with starting at the end of June and the US Open beginning in August.