“In my mind, I know that I haven’t done anything wrong,” this was Jannik Sinner‘s initial words on the doping controversy. Over the last few days, several players, coaches, and even former tennis stars have shared their opinions about this incident. Now, one of Sinner’s “good friends off the court” joins the list. Carlos Alcaraz empathized with Sinner’s tough times and also expressed his confidence in ITIA’s investigation. Yet some of the fans feel their friendship may be under some serious doubt!

For the unversed, Sinner tested positive for Clostebol (a banned substance) during the Indian Wells Masters in March. Despite the reports, he was allowed to play after successfully appealing the provisional suspension. Later, he received a clean chit from the tribunal, and it was revealed that the Italian tennis star accidentally got exposed to that substance from his, now former, physiotherapist.

Alcaraz was recently asked to share a few words on ‘Jannik’s drug situation.’ The Spaniard said, “Well, it’s a really difficult moment for him, that’s for sure. It is complicated. I mean, I’m not gonna lie, it is complicated.” He further said, “I believe in a clean sport. So I don’t know too much about that. You know, I am pretty sure that there are a lot of things that we don’t know, you know, inside the team or inside, you know, everything. But if they let Jannik keep playing, it’s for something, they said he’s innocent. So that’s all I know and that’s all I can talk about.”

After hearing this from the Spaniard, several fans have come up with wild reactions speculating a crack in the friendship between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz! Let’s checkout some of those reactions.

Fans feel Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner’s friendship is now over

We all know Alcaraz is a friend to all on the tour. He loves to treat everyone with comradarie. Speaking on his approach in a highly competitive world, Alcaraz said, “I try to be friendly, warm, get on with everyone. It’s more important to be a good person than anything else. At the end of my career, I’d like people to remember me, more than as a tennis player, as someone with good values.” He highly stressed the fact that players spend only a few hours a day on the court and the rest are spent off the court. So, he always tries to use the manners that his parents had taught him.

Now, with his recent comment on the Jannik Sinner incident, fans think, “LMAOOOOO people mad that Carlos is not here for free PR of Sinner like he has been for the past 2 years. He finally realised there is no point in being super nice to someone when the other person doesn’t reciprocate. He realised late but at least he realised.”

Alcaraz has always seen players who get more serious in competition and even when they’re off the court they are quite distant, but he doesn’t want to be like them. “I’m the opposite, I try to get on with everyone.” He feels not getting along with those people is no use at all. There have been many such instances when he was spotted wishing luck to his opponents even after his loss. For example, during the 2023 Miami Open, we saw the Spaniard wishing Sinner luck ahead of the finals after losing to him in the SF. He said, “Go for it, I’ll cheer for you.” Is their friendship nearing an end?

Another fan wrote, “I so love his answer. He didn’t say he doped but didn’t defend him either. Anyway, everyone knows that boy doped & got away with it but the players have to be diplomatic, ‘cus the ATP are obviously protecting him. I (love) how Carlos is now distancing himself from that “friendship.””

Sinner and Alcaraz are hailed as the future of men’s tennis. They’ve met each other nine times in their careers so far. Currently, Alcaraz leads the H2H race by 5-4. So, this rivalry has been quite intense on the court. Some of the fans went on to add, “Jannik sure knew from the start Carlos was not a real friend that’s why he was a bit cold with him. Carlos is a nice person tells all the time he’s friend with everyone but it’s impossible to be friends with everyone. And we see it today nothing to be reproached to Carlos though.”

Even Sinner has time and again, reflected his thoughts on their friendship. He once said it was always fun to play with Alcaraz and “We are good friends off the court. On the court, we just try to give 100 percent.” He feels every time they play against each other, they both try to push each other to their limits. We’ve seen this right? After hearing Alcaraz’s statement, another fan said, “I’ll need a video, but I expected a far more friendly answer. Interesting!”

Although Sinner has spoken about this whole saga stating, “I had to play already months with this in my head, but just (reminding) myself that I haven’t done really anything wrong. I always respect these rules, and I always will respect these rules of anti-doping.” Some of the fans wrote, “He (Alcaraz) clearly doesn’t believe Sinner is innocent lol.”

Darren Cahill once spoke about these two players in the past and reflected a bit on their friendship. The coach said, “Their friendship is real. They both respect each other and like each other and you’ll see that on the court regardless of who wins.” He even admitted that Sinner is always keen to watch Alcaraz’s matches because he was the “trailblazer” after winning a Grand Slam first. However, with the recent turn of events, do things look a bit gloomy between the two?

Well, there are some to differ though! One of the fans wrote, “He (Alcaraz) gave the most neutral answer possible and ppl think this is a dig at jannik PLSSSS.” What are your thoughts on this? Do you think Alcaraz’s friendship with Sinner may come to an end after his recent statement on the doping saga?