Jannik Sinner has had a very difficult year off the tennis court. Although his career has literally taken off in the last twelve months and has proven to be the best player in the world, the Italian ace has also had some problems that have stressed him out and forced him to grow.
The reference is obviously to the doping case that hit the world number 1 during the spring. Due to his positive Clostebol test in March, the 2-time Grand Slam champion had to face a long trial before ITIA to prove his total innocence.
After many hearings, ITIA believed his version of events and acknowledged him as innocent just before the start of the 2024 US Open. The 23-year-old from Sesto Pusteria thought that this story was now over, but in October WADA announced that it had appealed against the acquittal.
Jannik Sinner, Davis Cup Finals 2024© Stream screenshot
Almost no one expected such a decision from WADA, which required a disqualification of 1 to 2 years for the athlete. Sinner expressed all his disappointment with this choice, but assured that he will continue to collaborate with the authorities as he has done in previous months.
The Italian champion also had to change teams during the season: Umberto Ferrara and Giacomo Naldi – both responsible in the doping case – were replaced respectively by Marco Panichi and Ulises Badio.
Update on Sinner’s case
In the meantime, important news has arrived from Lausanne. The schedule of hearings of the CAS in Lausanne until February 11, 2025 has been released and there is no trace of the Sinner’s case on that list. This means that it will still take some time to know the fate of the world number 1 and that the final verdict could slip after the Masters 1000 in Indian Wells and Miami.
🚨 Update from the CAS in Lausanne: the hearing schedule until 11 February 2025 has been released. No sign of Sinner’s case on the list. 👀 This means no ruling before that date. Stay tuned. 🎾💼 #TennisNews #Jannik #Sinner #CAS #SportsLaw pic.twitter.com/0WTmJzc6Ri
— TennisTime (@Tennistimechat) November 29, 2024
“Obviously I’m very disappointed and also surprised of this appeal, to be honest, because we had three hearings” – the 2-time Grand Slam champion said in a recent interview.
“All three hearings came out very positively for me. You know, I was not expecting it. I knew it a couple of days ago, that they were going to appeal, that today it’s going to go official, so…
But yeah, it’s a surprise. We always talk about the same thing. Maybe they just want to make sure that everything is in the right position. Yeah, I’m just surprised that they appealed” – he added.
Despite his disappointment, Jannik continued to play his best tennis and ended the season in the best possible way. After losing to Carlitos Alcaraz in the final of the Beijing ATP 500, the Italian player won the Rolex Shanghai Masters by defeating Novak Djokovic in the final.
The world No. 1 missed the Rolex Paris Masters due to an intestinal virus, before winning the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin without losing a single set during his run. As if that were not enough, the 23-year-old from Sesto Pusteria led Italy to its second win in a row at the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga.
Jannik has lost only six of the 79 matches he has played this season, three of them against Alcaraz. His biggest regret was certainly the defeat against Daniil Medvedev in the quarterfinals of the Wimbledon Championships. The 2-time Grand Slam champion had had a bad night the day before that match, also due to the stress of the doping case that concerned him. Despite his huge issue, the world number 1 decided to play against the Russian ace but lost in five sets.
Jannik has rewritten the history of Italian tennis
During a recent interview, Italian legend Nicola Pietrangeli commented on Sinner’s amazing rise: “Rankings are done at the end of a career. It will take Sinner and the others three or four lives to beat all my records. Especially since I have one that is unbeatable – that of the 164 matches played in the Davis Cup.
That said, to beat all my records, he is on the right track. For heaven’s sake, he is only 23 years old. Except for the number of matches played, of course. You can’t touch that.”
The 23-year-old from Sesto Pusteria has rewritten the history of Italian tennis and has brought many people closer to this sport in his country. The relentless support of the fans in Turin was very helpful to Jannik, who played impressively at the ATP Finals without conceding anything to his opponents.
The Italian ace became the first player since Ivan Lendl to have won the Finals without losing a single set during the tournament. In addition, Jannik did not allow any of his opponents to win more than 4 games within the same set.
Tennis World USA