Daniil Medvedev admits he is “sympathetic” towards Jannik Sinner as he delivered his verdict on the world No 1’s doping case.
Sinner could now face a ban of up to two years after the World Anti-Doping Agency confirmed they were appealing the original ruling in the Italian’s case.
The world No 1 originally faced no suspension after twice testing positive for clostebol, though WADA has called into question the leniency of that penalty despite agreeing that Sinner holds “no fault or negligence” for the failed tests.
News of WADA’s appeal has loomed large over the China Open, where Sinner is the top seed and defending champion.
Medvedev was beaten in the final by the Italian a year ago and is back in the last four in Beijing, where he will face second seed Carlos Alcaraz for a place in the final.
Speaking after a quarter-win against Flavio Cobolli, the world No 5 admitted he was “sympathetic” towards his rival – but was trying to keep his distance from the situation.
He said: “My view is always on these things is kind of try to distance myself where the situation is very tough for him, for sure, to deal with it.
“As I always said, no one wants to be in this situation because, I said it in US Open press, for me imagine tomorrow you get an email, because I think it’s an email, you fail your doping test.
“They say for whatever reason, like cocaine or some drug you don’t even know the name of.
You’re like: ‘Wow, what I do now because I have no idea how it happened that it’s in my pee, blood, whatever.’
“So, yeah, 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 10 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.”
Medvedev was speaking following comments from Alcaraz, who said early in the week that he felt for his rival amid the ongoing controversy.
“I know that it is a very difficult point. It is difficult for him. I know everyone is talking about it, the news is talking about it,” said the Spaniard.
“Probably, as he said before New York, people started to look at him in a different way. I don’t know how it can be, but for sure I understand the position. I feel [for] him.
“I hope that with his people around, his close people and him, [he] is not going to feel bad these next few months.”
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