Daniil Medvedev makes ‘scared’ admission as he speaks out on Jannik Sinner doping case
Daniil Medvedev has revealed that he hopes players get the “same treatment” in future doping cases after admitting he was “scared” of the rules.
Rules surrounding doping suspensions have been a hot topic of debate within tennis ever since it emerged last week that Jannik Sinner had failed two drug tests back in March.
The world No 1 was found of “no fault” and has not faced a suspension after twice testing positive for clostebol, with the Australian Open champion’s justification of contamination accepted by the ITIA.
The news regarding Sinner has attracted opinions from all corners, with many players questioning why the Italian was able to continue playing during the investigation while others have faced lengthy periods off-court.
Among those to wade into the debate at the US Open is 2021 champion Medvedev, the man Sinner beat to lift the title in Melbourne earlier this year.
Medvedev did not accuse Sinner of any wrongdoing but revealed being “scared” of the rules, and expressed his wish that future doping cases be handled in the same way.
“I think my perspective is a little bit different,” said the former world No 1.
“I think I saw Taylor (Fritz), and I really like what he said. He said, Look, it’s only him who knows what happened exactly, so we cannot know. Nobody can know like the exact truth except him, his team, and maybe the guys who, like, the independent tribunal.
US Open News
Carlos Alcaraz opens up on his relationship with Novak Djokovic as he makes ‘no friends’ admission
“I hope this situation can be the same for every player, like every player can defend himself, because I think what he did was within the rules. It’s just the rules are a little bit vague, et cetera.
“For me, the only thing where I’m a little bit, like, doping cases make me scared is imagine – so he knew what happened, and good for him, so he managed to defend himself.
“Imagine whatever tennis player in the top 100 gets an email, and they say, ‘Look, there was cocaine in your blood’. You come to them and you say: ‘Well, I never did anything in my life. I don’t know how did it get there’.
“When you don’t know, you get suspended. That’s a little bit the tricky part, but that’s how, yeah, doping rules are.
“It’s okay. You go with it. As I said, I just hope it’s the same treatment for every player.”
Medvedev survived a slight scare to reach the second round in New York as he looks to go better than his 2023 runner-up finish.
The fifth seed defeated Dusan Lajovic in four sets and faces Fabian Marozsan in round two in his quest for a second major title.
Meanwhile, Sinner also prevailed in four sets to start his campaign, defeating Mackenzie McDonald from a set down to book a round two clash versus Alex Michelsen.
Much like at Wimbledon, Medvedev and Sinner are in the same quarter and are projected to meet at the quarter-final stage.
