According to the BBC, Jannik Sinner was reluctant to accept any ban in the first place, as his lawyer admitted that it was "quite tricky" to convince him to take the three-month offer.
The world No.1 was initially due to learn his fate in a court trial scheduled for April, but a shock development saw the 23-year-old handed a three-month suspension for testing positive twice for a banned substance in March 2024.
"With time ticking before the CAS hearing in April, WADA made two approaches to Sinner's team for the case resolution agreement," the BBC explained.
"The first attempt was rebuffed as Sinner's team wanted to submit the full defence case first.
"That was handed over on 31 January, and in early February, the first 'concrete discussions' began after the second approach."
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Jamie Singer, a high-profile lawyer, has represented Sinner throughout arguably tennis' biggest doping case in recent times.
He revealed that February 14 was a "late night" after multiple phone calls with WADA's most senior lawyer.
"It all happened unbelievably quickly," Singer told BBC Sport. "In a matter of a couple of days, really."
Nick Kyrgios and three-time major winner Stan Wawrinka were some of the most outspoken players when the unexpected news broke.
"So WADA come out and say it would be a 1-2 year ban. Obviously Sinner's team have done everything in their power to just go ahead and take a 3 month ban, no titles lost, no prize money lost. Guilty or not? Sad day for tennis. Fairness in tennis does not exist," Kyrgios wrote on X.
Wawrinka posted: "I don't believe in a clean sport anymore..."
The ban's timing came under fire, as Sinner will be eligible to participate in the Rome Masters in the lead-up to the French Open later in May.
"When I was saying 'well, look, maybe we should settle for three months', he was saying 'well, why would we do that if the first independent tribunal found it was no ban at all, why would I accept three months now?'," Singer said.
"My advice was 'one never knows what's going to happen at a hearing, we know that WADA are pushing for a year, if we don't accept their offer then they will go to court looking for a year and who knows what those three judges could do'."
"So the possibility of three months, in my view, was a good possibility."
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