Jannik Sinner has already outlined the tournaments he will play in 2025, but how much could a possible disqualification for doping affect him? In December he will begin his preparation for 2025, then, like last year, the ATP No.1 will not take part in any official tournament before the Australian Open. His official return will be for the first Slam of the season, from 12 to 26 January, where he will defend the first Grand Slam title won in his career.
Depending on how the WADA appeal goes, the timing of which is not yet known, the young Italian is in teh entry list of the ATP 500 tournament in Rotterdam, which will be played from 3 to 9 February. No other appointments scheduled for February for Sinner, who will return to the court directly in March for the two traditional ATP Masters 1000 in the United States first in Indian Wells (5-16 March) and then in Miami (19-30 March).
There should be changes instead for the clay court schedule. Recently Darren Cahill, coach of the Melbourne champion, had highlighted in an interview that the transition from hard to clay-courts last year had been too rapid. So everything suggests that this year the Italian tennis player might not play the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters.
Jannik is in fact in the entry list for the ATP 500 tournament in Munich (14-20 April) as already announced on social media. It would be a first for him on German clay. Then there should be the Mutua Madrid Open (23 April-4 May) and certainly the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome (7-18 May) which will be one of the main goals of the season of the 2-time Slam champion.
Then there will be the French Open, the second Slam of the season (May 25-June 8). There should be no changes for the grass season: Sinner should be on the court at the ATP 500 in Halle (June 16-22) and then at the Wimbledon Championships (June 30-July 13) for the third Slam of the season.
Jannik Sinner, Halle 2024© Stream screenshot
Regardless of his schedule, his future is still uncertain about the Clostebol doping issue. WADA has officially appealed to the CAS and in recent days several rumors have emerged regarding his possible disqualification. In a long interview with the Associated Press, the president of the Italian Tennis Federation Angelo Binaghi returned to the issue.
“I don’t know, but maybe there is someone who wants to stop Sinner. Maybe there is someone in Italy who hopes that they will stop Sinner but we don’t care. The Clostebol case has been clarified in every aspect, the whole world has understood what happened, except for a few imbeciles. I told Jannik: this is a merit for people with common sense and I think I will close it, the worst is over and I have faith in CAS, I think that now it is a formality,” said Binaghi.
Binaghi is confident while there are those like the former tennis player Omar Camporese who do not think the same way.
“This whole issue is mind-blowing, it’s absurd what happened to Sinner. I know that Wada is very angry about precedents in the past, the case of the Chinese swimmers and cyclists and now they don’t want to let anyone get away with it. Unfortunately it happened to Jannik, there are rumors that unfortunately there will be a penalty even if no one knows how much,” explained the former player.