Jannik Sinner spoke ahead of the 2024 US Open, and he addressed his doping saga, explaining that he didn't do anything wrong and was glad about being cleared.
Big news broke in the past few days, shocking the tennis world. Sinner tested positive for a banned substance earlier this year in March. The news was shocking because it was the first time it was made public knowledge.
Nobody knew before that, and he was allowed to continue competing. He was allowed because he appealed the suspension, which was handed automatically. The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) found his explanation to be credible, per a scientist who looked over the case, but a formal investigation still had to be carried out.
It has been ongoing since April until recently, when the Italian was officially cleared of any wrongdoing. He turned a positive sample after being contaminated through a message from his physio, who used a spray on his hands that contained the banned substance.
Although the spray is banned in the United States, it is legal in Italy, where it was purchased. Overall, it was just an unfortunate sequence of events for Sinner, who tested positive twice in eight days.
The situation created lots of discussion in the tennis world due to how it was handled. The secrecy of it got some people to question it, but apparently, all the rules were followed.
Overall, it was very unfortunate for Sinner, especially ahead of the US Open. His press conference was the most followed one, and he had to answer plenty of questions about the whole saga.
Sinner had indicated through representatives before that he would be addressing the matter in this press conference but not after that, wanting to focus on tennis, which makes sense as it's a Grand Slam.
In his press conference, the Italian once again underlined what he said in his press statement after the news broke out: He didn't do anything wrong. The contamination came through another person who wasn't careful about what they used as medicine.
Andy Roddick, for example, was mostly surprised by that person's lack of care. Sinner parted ways with the person in question following this news and underlined his relief that everything had ended the way it did. He was glad to have been proven innocent of any wrongdoing.
"Yeah, of course it's not ideal before a Grand Slam. But, you know, in my mind I know that I haven't done anything wrong. I had to play already months with this in my head, but, you know, just remembering myself that I haven't done really anything wrong. I always respect that these rules, and I always will respect these rules of anti-doping."
"Yeah, just obviously a relief for myself having this result. And, yeah, so it's just good to be back here. It's an amazing city, amazing place to play tennis. I will just trying to enjoy as much as I can and hopefully having a good tournament."