The lawyer representing world number one Jannik Sinner has spoken out against claims by Novak Djokovic that the Italian had been treated with favouritism during his doping case, which was settled earlier this month – with the 23-year-old accepting a three-month suspension that will see him avoid missing a single Grand Slam.

The matter was set to be taken to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in April, following an appeal from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), regarding the Tennis Integrity Agency’s decision to clear him of two positive test results recorded last March.

While confirming that Sinner had accepted the reduced ban, WADA acknowledged that Sinner “did not intend to cheat,” claiming that his exposure to the banned substance clostebol “did not provide any performance enhancing benefit and occurred without his knowledge due to the negligence of individuals in his entourage”.

Sinner, who has won both the US Open and the Australian Open since the case commenced, is currently serving his ban, which began on the 9th of February and will run until the 4th of May. This suspension period means that the three-time Grand Slam champion is free to compete in the French Open which is set to take place on the 25th of May 2025.

Had Sinner been handed the same ban in April – when the case was due to be heard – he would have missed out on both the French Open and Wimbledon. A number of major names have spoken out to express their disappointment at Sinner being able to bargain down his punishment and to essentially choose when he serves it. The biggest name to weigh-in on the controversy to date is 24-time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic, who declared earlier this week that most of the players he had spoken to about Sinner’s case were unhappy with the situation.

“Most of them are not satisfied with how the whole process has gone, and they don’t think it’s fair. Many of them believe there was favouritism,” the Serbian hero stated. “We have seen the cases of Simona Halep and Tara Moore, and other players perhaps less known, who have had difficulties for years to resolve their cases, or who have been suspended for a long time. I think it is really time to do something and address the system, because it is clear that the structure does not work like this.”

Jannik Sinner’s Lawyer Reveals His Client Didn’t Want to Accept Any Form of Ban

Sinner’s lawyer, Jamie Singer, responded to Djokovic’s words in an interview with Sky News, during which he confirmed that the three-time Grand Slam winner had to persuaded to accept the three-month ban, rather than continue the fight to clear his name. He then seemingly took a swipe at Novak, saying:

Singer continued: “Jannik sees it from completely the other perspective that he had an independent tribunal that found there was no sanction to be applied. Why is he accepting three months later? So it took a little bit of time to persuade him that it was actually the right thing to do – to accept WADA’s offer rather than going all the way to a CAS case.

“It just so happens that these circumstances have been very unusual. He says he feels that he’s been treated quite harshly. The players have quite a platform, but they don’t necessarily have the opportunity to investigate and get into all the details that are out there. So they make their opinions known. But perhaps the facts do need a bit more investigation.”

By cutting his deal with WADA, Sinner avoided what would have been a minimum of a one-year ban. Although he will be absent from a number of ATP 1000 events, he won’t miss out on any landmark tournaments – and could rub shoulders with the rest of the tour as early as the 7th of May when the 2025 Italian Open gets underway. It will be interesting to see what sort of reception he receives from the rest of the locker room when he does return.