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Although he had been acquitted in the first instance, Jannik Sinner understood that it was better to accept the agreement with WADA by avoiding arriving at the hearing before the CAS in Lausanne. The world number 1 has suffered a three-month suspension that will expire on May 4, averting the risk of a 1-2 year penalty and being able to better plan his future.
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The Italian ace - who has always professed his innocence - did not want to continue living in this situation of very high stress for another few months and made this very delicate decision that triggered reactions of all kinds in every corner of the planet.
This deal is painful for the 3-time Grand Slam champion who has done nothing wrong, but it is quite convenient from the point of view of his schedule.
In this time, the 23-year-old from Sesto Pusteria will miss six tournaments in total but no Majors and has an excellent chance of staying at the top of the ATP ranking.
Sinner didn'twant to accept
In a long interview with 'BBC Sport', James Singer - one of Jannik's lawyers - revealed further details about the agreement between the world number 1 and WADA, which was made official when the Italian was already in Doha to participate in the prestigious ATP 500.
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"The deal was done within a couple of days, it was all very quick," Singer explained. The well-known lawyer confessed that it was not easy to convince Sinner that it was the best solution: "When I told him about this agreement, he replied that he had been acquitted in the first instance and did not understand why he should have accepted this compromise.
I explained to him that it was not possible to predict what would happen in the hearing before the CAS in Lausanne and that WADA was insisting a one-year suspension.
A three-month suspension was a good solution for us."
BBC reported that WADA had tried to come to an agreement with Jannik's team before, but had received a refusal.