Nadal defends Sinner: I don't think he intended to dope

NEW YORK (AP) — Rafael Nadal told a Spanish television show that he doesn't think Jannik Sinner intended to use a banned substance and that the current No. 1-ranked man didn't receive preferential treatment when he was cleared of doping after testing positive twice in March for trace amounts of an anabolic steroid.

“I trust that he wasn’t punished because those who judged this case determined quite clearly that there was nothing to punish. ... I don’t believe the sentence has anything to do with him being No. 1 in the world," 22-time major champion Nadal said Monday in an interview with "El Hormiguero.”

Sinner beat Tommy Paul in the fourth round of the U.S. Open on Monday night.

The International Tennis Integrity Agency said on Aug. 20 that it was determined the banned performance-enhancer entered Sinner's system unintentionally through a massage from his physiotherapist, and that is why the player was not suspended.

Asked about the matter in New York before the U.S. Open began, Novak Djokovic said he gets why some tennis players question whether there’s a double-standard in the sport.

Nadal, who sat out the U.S. Open, said: “I believe in someone’s good faith. I know Sinner; I don’t believe that Sinner wanted to dope.”

“In the end, justice is justice, and I believe in justice," Nadal said. "I believe in the bodies that have to make decisions and that they do it based on what they believe is right.”

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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis