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.
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“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.’
