Jannik Sinner accepting an immediate three-month ban after reaching a settlement with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is not unique to the case of the men's world number one, WADA's chief counsel said.

Doping Agency on Monday offered an explanation for why top-ranked tennis player Jannik Sinner received a much shorter doping ban than the six-year suspension it handed to a Spanish figure skater in a similar doping case.

Jannik Sinner, the world’s No. 1 male tennis player, has accepted a three-month ban from the sport following an anti-doping rule violation. Australian Open champion Sinner, 23, received a sanction in August but was found by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) to bear “no fault or negligence” after twice testing positive for clostebol — a banned anabolic steroid — at the Indian Wells Masters 1000 tournament in March.

The World Anti-Doping Agency told the BBC that it rejected criticism of the settlement reached with the men’s World No 1

Anti-doping body lawyer says sanction level against Italian world No 1, which has been criticised by many players, was ‘in the right place’.