Jannik Sinner had his 2024 US Open preparation disrupted by the news of him testing positive for a banned substance back in March, and he opened up about how he's been dealing with it so far.
The Italian tested positive for a banned substance, clostebol, back in March but was lucky to avoid a suspension. He was allowed to compete and had a successful summer, becoming world number one player on the ATP Tour in the process.
Dealing with the doping case was challenging for him, but he was able to handle it fairly well. His level did suffer a bit, but not too much, even though the burden of carrying that on his shoulders was quite heavy.
The news broke ahead of the US Open, and it created a media storm, with Sinner sought out by many media outlets. The Italian was reluctant to discuss the case outside of his first press conference at the US Open but admitted he felt like the burden has lifted a bit.
The way he's been playing at the US Open certainly backs that up, but not everything has been smooth. Some fans turned their back on him, and some players reacted negatively, even though some have backed him.
It's just a lot he's had to balance in the past two weeks, and it's been a difficult period, but he made it to the semi-final of the New York Slam. He doesn't shy away from admitting that it's been challenging, but he's tried his best to handle the situation as well as possible.
It's gotten better with every day that he's at the US Open, as fans slowly started to warm up to him again. Having his team there with him has also been very important. Those are the people closest to him who know him best.
"I have my team and my people who are close to me. You know, they know me, they know I always stick with the people who know me and believe me. It's a very important part. And obviously, I'm very happy to have them, you know, coach-wise and also off the court."
"Yeah, obviously in the beginning was a bit, was a tough situation, but, you know, day by day it went better. So yeah, I'm happy about that. Let's see now in the semis what I can do."
Playing tennis every second day is a great way to distract himself from everything else for Sinner, and the Grand Slam event only makes the matches more important, so the 23-year-old has plenty of things to keep himself busy with.
At the end of the day, he's playing tennis, and that should be the focus because he's marching towards a second Grand Slam trophy. If he does win it, he will join Carlos Alcaraz in winning two Grand Slams this year, which is a great start for their rivalry.
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