Cédric Pioline, director of the Paris Rolex Masters, explained the reasons for Jannik Sinner’s renunciation of playing the last ATP Masters 1000 of the season, underlining the danger of exhibition tournaments for the Tour. Every decision, a controversy. Jannik’s withdrawal from Paris-Bercy has generally raised – it must be said – some negative comments on the possible correlation between the absence of the Italian and his participation in the Six Kings Slam.
Pioline said that the Italian champion’s withdrawal was due to an intestinal virus, explaining: “It’s a virus that he contracted before arriving in Paris. I was able to speak to him before because he came to see me very kindly, he was very disappointed by this withdrawal. He arrived on Friday telling himself that he wanted to play here at the Rolex Paris Masters where he had never managed to perform and play his best tennis. We can emphasize that he did his best. A few days ago they had informed me of this stomach problem. To tell the truth, I was quite pessimistic because we all know that when you have gastroenteritis you come out tired and sometimes you lose weight. There was too little time for him to recover, to regain his energy: as world number 1, he comes here to Paris to win the tournament, not to play one or two matches.”
🤔 D’accord avec le directeur du Rolex Paris Masters ?
▶️ https://t.co/0dJhbbkswn#RolexParisMasters #HomeOfTennis pic.twitter.com/8Q8kRFIWWm
— Eurosport France (@Eurosport_FR) October 29, 2024
The director of the Rolex Masters, without referring to Sinner’s case, then added a polemical comment against The Six Kings Slam. A discussion that could also extend to the choices of Rafa Nadal or Novak Djokovic, who preferred to be in Saudi Arabia rather than compete this week in the French capital.
“There are the geopolitics of the Tour and discussions at the Slam, ATP and WTA level on consolidations, reorganizations. Today nothing has been decided. It is certain that from my point of view we must be vigilant so that there is coherence with the money put on the table in this Saudi exhibition, it is something that is disruptive and that destabilizes the ecosystem in place and that is not necessarily super healthy,”