The cases of Halep and Moore were significantly different to that of Sinner, more complicated and requiring more assessment, but it’s also true that Sinner, as the world No 1 and a rich man, had the luxury of being able to call on a team of lawyers immediately.
Throughout the entire case, Sinner has done a decent job of answering every question asked of him in press conferences, something that may sound like a given, but which nevertheless helps him in terms of the way he is perceived by people inside and outside tennis.
In appealing against the original decision by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) not to ban Sinner, Wada said it was seeking a ban of at least a year.
If the explanation given – that the clostebol accidentally entered the Italian’s system via contamination from a medicine used by his physio to treat a cut finger – seemed a little fanciful, few inside tennis believed that Sinner had actually tried to cheat.
For Jannik Sinner, the three-month ban he has accepted from the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) is less than he might have received had he let the appeal go the natural distance.
