Jannik Sinner has said he was lost and confused after receiving a three-month doping ban in a settlement with the World Anti-Doping Agency in February.
The top-ranked tennis player suddenly didn’t know what do with himself away from the game he had dedicated almost his entire life to.
“At the start I was a bit confused because I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do,” Sinner said Monday — the day the ban expired — upon his arrival at the Italian Open. “Then I went home and stayed with my family. I tried to understand better what was really important to me.
“I know how many sacrifices I made and my daily routine was always practice, practice, practice,” Sinner added. “But at that moment I didn’t have any of that. I came to understand that what’s important to me are the people by your side. That they give you the strength to move forward and continue smiling.”
Besides his family in the German-speaking Alto Adige region of northern Italy, Sinner also spent more time with friends at home in Monaco, participated in other sports like cycling, and then only gradually came back to tennis.
“We went about a month without touching (a racket) and then we restarted really softly,” Sinner said. “When we started pushing more, blisters developed on my hands. That was something I hadn’t experienced in a long time.”
The settlement was made after WADA appealed a decision last year by the International Tennis Integrity Agency to fully exonerate Sinner for what it deemed to be an accidental contamination by a banned anabolic steroid in March 2024.
The settlement raised questions, since it conveniently allows Sinner to return at his home tournament and not miss any Grand Slams.
The Italian Open is the last big clay-court tournament before the French Open — the year’s second Grand Slam — starts on May 25.
“I didn’t want to do it in the beginning, and also it was a bit not easy for me to accept it, because I know what really happened,” Sinner said of the ban. “But sometimes we have to choose the best in a very bad moment, and that’s what we did. So it’s all over now. So I’m happy to play tennis again.”
Many fellow pros feel that Sinner was treated too lightly.
Serena Williams said in a recent interview with Time magazine that she “would have gotten 20 years” if she was involved in a similar case. “Let’s be honest. I would have gotten Grand Slams taken away from me,” Williams added.
“I just arrived 45 minutes ago. I haven’t seen so many (other players),” Sinner said. “It’s all fine at the moment, but I haven't seen most of them.”
It will mark the first time that Italy has had a No. 1 player for its home tournament and every move that Sinner makes is attracting attention this week.
Sinner was scheduled to hold an open practice session later on Campo Centrale that is expected to attract a sold-out crowd of 10,500 spectators. It will be broadcast live on Italian TV.
Before the practice session, Sinner was to be honored alongside his Davis Cup teammates and the Billie Jean King Cup players after Italy swept both of tennis’ biggest team titles last year.
Sinner hasn’t played a match since he won his second straight Australian Open title in January. After a first-round bye, he will be play his opening match Friday or Saturday against either No. 99 Mariano Navone or 18-year-old Italian wild card Federico Cinà.
The last Italian man to win the title in Rome was Adriano Panatta in 1976.
“It’s a very, very low expectation tournament in general for me,” Sinner said. “It’s a very strange feeling again in the beginning to be around so many people and attention. But it’s nice to be back.”
