Jannik Sinner is on a roll after his stunning US Open triumph, but the Italian star knows that staying at the top means making some big moves off the court as well. Fresh off his Grand Slam victory, Sinner is shaking up his team to keep the momentum alive—and he’s bringing in some fresh faces with a familiar Novak Djokovic connection. As Sinner taps into the experience of people who’ve worked with Djokovic, it didn’t take long for Djokovic’s wife, Jelena, to chime in with her signature wit. 

The Italian tennis dynamo partnered with fitness coach Marco Panichi and physiotherapist Ulises Badio ahead of the Asian swing. The news was shared by Sinner himself on his Instagram, who shared a picture with his new coaches and wrote, “Welcome to the team Marco and Ulises💪🏼,” in Italian. But what followed was a cheeky response from Djokovic’s wife Jelena. 

Responding to the post, Jelena wrote, “I will not give up,” signifying that she wouldn’t leave Nole’s team. Remember, Jelena is also the co-founder and global CEO of the Novak Djokovic Foundation, which is a charity organization started by the couple. For the unversed, both Panichi and Badio have been a part of Nole’s camp in the past. 

While Panichi worked with Djokovic from 2017 until May this year, Badio left the Djokovic camp in 2022 after more than five years together. For now, they are practicing with the World No. 1 at Monte-Carlo. They are also scheduled to travel with Sinner to the ATP 500 tournament in Beijing that begins on 26th September, and the ATP 1000 event in Shanghai that begins next month. Sinner’s shuffling, meanwhile, comes in the backdrop of his doping 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 Giacomo Naldi used a spray containing Clostebol on their own injury, and then gave Sinner massages and therapy without wearing gloves which led to contamination. He took swift action quickly and parted ways with Umberto Ferrara and Naldi after the incident. Meanwhile, the Italian tennis dynamo has always heaped praises on his inner circle and team members and it would be interesting to see how the latest coaching decisions unfold. 

When Jannik Sinner shared hea artwarming message for his team at the US Open

Jannik Sinner witnessed immense success at the US Open and despite the entire doping controversy in place, he demonstrated his true resilience. However, he did not fail to highlight the importance of his team and sang praises for his inner circle. 

After qualifying for the US Open semifinal this year, Sinner said, “I have my team and my people who are close to me. You know, they know me, they know I always stick with the people who know me and believe me. It’s a very important part. And obviously, I’m very happy to have them, you know, coach-wise and also off the court.” He further reflected that it was for this support that he was able to leave the controversy behind and focus on his career.

“Yeah, obviously in the beginning was a bit, was a tough situation, but, you know, day by day it went better. So yeah, I’m happy about that.” For now, it would be interesting to see how fruitful his latest coaching decisions turn out to be. Can he continue to win big? Well, only time will tell.