Jannik Sinner’s season has been quite the rollercoaster! While he’s enjoyed some standout moments on the court, it hasn’t been all smooth sailing. The Doping Saga that has surrounded him created an entirely different storm—one that saw fans split, criticism flying, and harsh remarks casting a shadow over his successes. Despite all of this, Sinner has shown remarkable resilience, and now he’s opening up about the entire controversy in a way that sheds new light on his journey.

The Italian tennis sensation tested positive for low levels of a metabolite of clostebol during the Indian Wells. It is a banned anabolic steroid that can be used in ophthalmological and dermatological treatment. But the star player was acquitted of the charges by an independent tribunal, which ruled that he bore “no fault or negligence” on a judgment just before the US Open, and he continued to witness immense criticism from the community. Now, Sinner has himself come forward to speak his heart out over the matter. 

Speaking in an interview with Sky Sport Uno in Italy, recorded on September 18, which will now be shown to the public soon, Sinner shared a stoic response. “The real difficult moment in my opinion was when the news came out. And it came out at a very delicate stage because it came before a Grand Slam. I already wanted to train from Wednesday, the news came out on Tuesday and we decided it was better not to, because there would be too much noise at the club so we went on Thursday, in the evening, because so many people would leave,” he said. But it did not help the player much. He revealed that he kept looking at other players and trying to understand what they were thinking. But while the entire case continued to trouble Sinner, it also gave him some lessons. 

Continuing further, World No. 1 said, “Maybe this case was about understanding who is your friend and who is not. And I separated those two things. And I realized that there are a lot of players that I didn’t think were my friends, and there’s quite a large amount that I thought were my friends and are not. And that didn’t do me any good in the end, but it made me realize a lot of things.” Remember, the ITIA earlier found that Sinner had no direct role to play in the doping saga.

ITIA concluded that the presence of the substance in Sinner’s body was a result of an over-the-counter spray that his physio used to cure a small wound on his fingers. The physio, Giacomo Naldi, then passed along the chemical to Sinner via “daily massages and sports therapy,” since he worked without gloves. But despite this, there were several faces like that of Nick Kyrgios who continued to slam the ruling and the player and demanded stringent punishment against him.

The Australian player continued to up the ante against Sinner. He made several posts on X and sought Sinner’s suspension. “You get tested twice with a banned (steroid) substance… you should be gone for 2 years,” he wrote in one such post. Even Carlos Alcaraz took a veiled jibe at Sinner and claimed that he believed in the idea of a “clean sport.” These instances also became a major reason behind the WADA appealing against the ruling of the independent tribunal in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and seeking a ban on Sinner, the ruling about which is still awaited. But while there were adversities for Sinner, he also witnessed immense support from someone in the community.

When a tennis veteran rallied his support behind Jannik Sinner

Jannik Sinner’s joy of clinching titles at the Cincinnati Masters and at the US Open was overshadowed by the doping saga. But amid the adversities that he faced, he also received some immense support from former players and experts of the sport, and one such supporter who backed the player throughout was Mark Petchey.

Responding to WADA’s latest appeal to CAS against Sinner, Petchey expressed his disappointment. Taking to X, the former British player wrote, “Just for the record there is ZERO scandal in the Sinner case. He and his lawyers worked within the framework of what the rules are in the situation he found himself and got a decision based on the evidence presented. No conspiracy, no cover up.” He also seemed to question the entire process and the appeal. “WADA today have looked at it and decided that they want to appeal the decision based on the “no fault or negligence” was not correct under the applicable rules. This is how the law works every single day.”

But Jannik Sinner’s struggles are not over just yet. It will be crucial for him to see what the final ruling of the case turns out to be. Will he be out of trouble anytime soon? Well, only time will tell.