Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli has raised questions over Jannik Sinner’s doping ban and admitted she has “trouble understanding this decision.”

The former world No 7 suggested it is convenient that Sinner will return from his ban in time for the tournament in Rome as she highlighted the fact that ATP president Andrea Gaudenzi is Italian.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) revealed on Saturday that Sinner had been suspended from tennis for three months for failing two doping tests in March 2024.

The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) announced in August that Sinner would not serve a ban as he carried “no fault or negligence” after testing positive for the anabolic steroid clostebol during and after last year’s Indian Wells Masters.

An independent tribunal accepted Sinner’s explanation that the substance had entered his body when receiving a massage from his former physio, Giacomo Naldi, who had used a spray containing the steroid to treat a cut on his finger.

However, WADA appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) over the verdict in September as they sought to impose a ban of between one and two years on the world No 1.

The appeal was set to be heard at CAS in April, but WADA confirmed it had reached an agreement with Sinner’s legal team for the Italian to serve a suspension from February 9 to May 4.

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Sinner will miss the upcoming Qatar Open ATP 500 event, as well as Masters 1000 tournaments in Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo and Madrid.

The 23-year-old will not, however, miss any Grand Slams, and he will be able to compete at the Italian Open, which begins three days after his ban expires.

Speaking on RMC Sport, Bartoli expressed her doubts over the resolution reached in Sinner’s case.

“He had a much heavier sword of Damocles hanging over his head, because at the beginning, there was even talk of a two-year suspension,” the Frenchwoman said.

“I have to read the reports and say that the experts all described this unintentional doping.

“Now, where I have trouble understanding this decision is that there is case law at the CAS level, which is located in Switzerland, and that the case law is still higher than that, that is to say that even for negligence, there was more than three months.

“The president of the ATP is Italian and as luck would have it, he will resume in Rome… When you put everything together, you still say to yourself, ‘aren’t they ‘taking the pi** a bit?’

“But, based on the evidence and what has been said, I am no one to question that. So, I have a lot of trouble forming an opinion.”

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