Jannik Sinner’s journey to the US Open title has been nothing short of a rollercoaster ride. Fresh off a stunning win at the Cincinnati Masters, the Italian star should have been riding high. Instead, he found himself caught in the eye of a storm—a doping controversy that overshadowed his triumph and left many questioning his future. Yet, in true Sinner fashion, he faced the adversity head-on and clinched the title. But as the dust settles and the celebrations begin, Sinner knows there’s more to address than just his on-court game. 

The Italian tennis sensation is looking forward to making a change to his team, after the doping saga. This comes after he bid farewell to his physiotherapist Giacomo Naldi and athletic trainer Umberto Ferrara after an unintentional incident led to the Italian star being at the center of controversy.

At Indian Wells, he tested positive twice for low levels of a metabolite of clostebol, which is a banned anabolic steroid. As per him, his trainer (Naldi) used a spray containing Clostebol on their own injury, and then gave Sinner massages and therapy without wearing gloves which led to contamination. 

While the ruling of the independent tribunal went in his favor, he has received widespread flak from the tennis community with many experts and players taking a jibe at him. But Sinner is attempting to move on from the controversy and make some vital changes. To replace Naldi and Ferrara, Sinner is expected to partner with the former teammate of Novak Djokovic, Marco Panichi, per Gazzetta dello Sport. 

For Sinner, the choice is very important given the fact that the Italian will have to go under rigorous training in December before the beginning of the new season. Panichi, meanwhile, would be an apt fit who also helped Djokovic clinch many titles. He also assisted the Chinese sensation Shang Juncheng recently but the reports suggest that he may join Sinner shortly. 

For the unversed, Nole parted ways with the trainer in April this year, ending their seven-year partnership. “Grande Marco, what amazing years of collaboration we’ve had. We reached the summit, won titles, broken records. But most of all, I have enjoyed our most “ordinary” days of training in and out of the gym…,” Djokovic wrote in his Instagram post about the split. While an official announcement is yet to be made, it would be interesting to see if Panichi can help Sinner maintain his World No. 1 spot. But for now, Sinner only wishes to focus on the positive things and positive people.

Jannik Sinner remains stoic amid criticism 

The Italian tennis dynamo has silenced his haters with the US Open victory. Despite the ruling of the ITIA, Jannik Sinner continues to face criticism but now, he wishes to move forward. Speaking after winning the US Open title, the Italian player expressed the testing times that he faced and thanked the people who supported him. 

Speaking in the post-match interview about voices that rose against him, Sinner said, “This is not only in tennis. This is in other sports and different jobs also. I mean, you can’t really do anything about that. That’s why you have, as I said before, the people close to you, these are the people who knows what was going on and what I and my team went through because it was not only me; it was the whole situation.” Continuing further, expressed pride in winning the title. “I  just can talk from my side and from my team’s perspective, and we are all very proud of this achievement.”

With the reported changes that Sinner might announce in some time, it will be interesting to see if he can continue his winning streak and lift his second consecutive Australian Open title next season.