Jannik Sinner's case was "a million miles away from doping", a senior figure at the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) has said.
The men's tennis world number one was handed an immediate three-month ban by Wada on Saturday after reaching a settlement over his two positive drug tests last year.
Sinner, 23, was cleared of any wrongdoing by an independent panel after testing positive for banned substance clostebol in March 2024.
Wada had been seeking a ban of up to two years after launching an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) following the initial decision by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) not to suspend Sinner.
However, a deal was reached when Wada accepted Sinner was inadvertently contaminated and "did not intend to cheat".
Sinner has stated that he was inadvertently contaminated by his physiotherapist, who was treating a cut on his hand with an over-the-counter spray, which was later found to contain the banned substance.
The case has divided the tennis world, with some questioning the timing and length of the ban, how the Italian was able to agree a deal and inconsistencies between recent doping cases.
It led to Switzerland's three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka posting on X: "I don't believe in a clean sport any more."
Novak Djokovic, the 24-time Slam winner, questioned the fairness of the process and said there is "favouritism" towards high-profile players.
"This was a case that was a million miles away from doping," Wada general counsel Ross Wenzel told BBC Sport.
"The scientific feedback that we received was that this could not be a case of intentional doping, including micro-dosing."
Wenzel rejected any suggestion of special treatment and said the terms of the ban - that some have claimed will have little effect on Sinner - were appropriate for the case and not taken with the tennis calendar in mind.
Sinner's suspension began on 9 February and runs until 4 May, making him eligible to play at the French Open - the next Grand Slam - which begins on 25 May.
He has not featured competitively since beating Alexander Zverev in the final of the Australian Open on 26 January and could still be ranked number one when he returns to action.
Wenzel said: "Wada has received messages from those that consider that the sanction was too high and, in some respects, if you have some saying this is unfair on the athlete, and others saying it's not enough, maybe it's an indication that although it's not going to be popular with everyone, maybe it's an indication that it was in the right place.
"When we look at these cases we try to look at them technically, operationally and we don't do it with fear of what the public and the politicians or anyone is going to say."
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