World number one Jannik Sinner has accepted a three-month ban from tennis after reaching a settlement with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) over two positive doping tests last year.
The Italian, who won the Australian Open last month, will be suspended from February 9 to May 4.
He will be eligible to play in this year’s next Grand Slam tournament, Roland Garros, which begins on May 19.
In a statement on Saturday, WADA, which has appealed the decision to clear Sinner to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), said it accepted his explanation that a physiotherapist had inadvertently contaminated him with the banned substance clostebol.
WADA stressed that it accepted that the three-time Grand Slam winner “did not intend to cheat”, that the drug “provided no performance-enhancing benefit” and that it occurred “without his knowledge as a result of the negligence of members of his entourage”, AA writes.