Tennis commentator Rob Koenig recently shared his take on Jannik Sinner's hip injury, which has cast doubt on his participation at Roland Garros.
Sinner's hip injury occurred in late April while playing at the Madrid Open. He complained of pain during the third-round match against Pavel Kotov. Although the Italian won the match in straight sets, his discomfort was visible to those watching, including his coach, Simone Vagnozzi.
Vagnozzi had instructed Sinner to play on shrugging off the 22-year-old's concerns of "it hurts". The World No. 2 persevered and even won his fourth-round match against Karen Khachanov.
However, he could not walk to the court before his quarterfinal match against Felix Auger-Aliassime, so he withdrew from the tournament. Sinner's condition worsened after Madrid because he was forced to miss the Italian Open and is now in a race against time to be fit for Roland Garros.
His involvement in Paris looks increasingly uncertain. In a tweet on X (formerly Twitter), former South African tennis player Koenig, a commentator on the world feed, believes Vagnozzi is to blame for exacerbating Sinner's injury.
"Will be sad if Sinner misses RG, man I love watching him compete. One thing I’ll never understand though, is a player asking his team if he should continue…JS clearly in discomfort in Madrid, Simone urging him to carry on after Jannik said “it hurts” (groin area)."
" ….could prove to be a costly decision. Only the player knows how bad their injury feels. I had a bad feeling at the time that this could come back to bite, Jannik. To miss Rome and (perhaps) RG, would confirm it was the wrong decision to keep playing in Madrid, IMO. #GetWellSoon."
Sinner has not picked up a racket since Madrid and recently underwent a week of rehab in Turin at the Juventus football club's medical center. Further tests have been conducted, and a decision on whether he will play at Roland Garros should be released before the end of the week.