Jannik Sinner admitted to being very worried during his recently concluded doping saga but emphasized that he's a fair player who is very careful about strictly following rules and regulations.
Sinner has been an exemplary professional throughout his career. The Italian had a clean image until a few days ago, without any controversies. He doesn't get involved in drama and simply works hard and lets his tennis do the talking.
His current coach, Darren Cahill, confirmed and praised Sinner's professionalism. Cahill has worked with many great players but cited Sinner as one of the most dedicated and committed players he's worked with.
Ultimately, the best measure of his approach are his results. He's the reigning number one on the ATP Tour, with one Grand Slam won this year and plenty more trophies coming up in the future.
Unfortunately, his image took a beating recently when it was announced that he tested positive twice in March for a banned substance. Any time that happens, there are two questions.
The first one is whether a player doped intentionally, and the second one is how a banned substance ended up in their system. For Sinner, there is an explanation that was accepted by a formal investigation that lasted for months.
The banned substance was in a spray that his physiotherapist used on his hands before giving him a massage. This careless action on the physio's part almost cost Sinner the ultimate price.
The Italian was shocked and devasted by a positive test because he's always been a player who does everything by the book. He's very careful about anything that gets near him precisely to avoid even accidental contaminations like this.
As Andy Roddick pointed out in his most recent podcast episode, no sport has as long a list of banned substances as tennis, so players need to be very careful about that. Novak Djokovic's carefulness about what he puts into his body was well-documented during the COVID-19 era.
Unfortunately for Sinner, it did happen, leaving him very worried as the investigation went on. It was the first time he had to deal with something like this, and it was tough. The results suffered, and it wasn't made public, adding another layer, and he spoke about it openly ahead of the 2024 US Open.
"Of course I was worried, because it was the first time for me, you know, and hopefully the last time that I am in this situation, position. There also a different part we have to see is the amount I had in my body, which is 0.000000001, so there are a lot of zeroes before coming up a 1."
"So I was worried, of course, because I'm always the player who was working very, very carefully in this. I believe I'm a fair player on and off the court. And yeah, that's a bit how it all was and how it went."
It turned out well for him, as he was fully cleared of any wrongdoing. Now, he can finally focus entirely on tennis and not have to worry about this thing, which might keep him away from the sport for a very long time.
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