Jannik Sinner has seemingly made a choice about who to hire to replace the outgoing team members, and it could be Novak Djokovic's former fitness coach.
Sinner recently fired two members of his staff. Umberto Ferrara and Giacomo Naldi were fired after the doping saga, as the trust was broken following what happened in the months before that.
Sinner tested positive for a banned substance in March, with the contaminant coming through his physio, who used a cream on his hands containing the banned substance before massaging the Italian tennis player.
After giving Sinner a massage, the substance entered the Italian's body, showing up on the regular tests he had been subjected to. Luckily for the Italian, he was cleared of any wrongdoing after a thorough investigation, but he still couldn't trust those team members because they put him in a very tough spot.
Carelessness is not tolerated in tennis or any sport because he could have easily been suspended for that, and that would have been devastating for such a young player, and current World No. 1 on the ATP Tour.
He got relatively lucky, but even if he was cleared, he might have to wear this positive test for the rest of his career, and it might always be mentioned as part of his legacy.
Sinner recently let go of his team members and thus started a search for new team members. As those are vital positions that need to be filled immediately due to the season going on, Sinner had to act quickly, and he did.
According to reports from Italy, the 23-year-old has found a new fitness coach and it's a very familiar name to most of those who follow tennis closely. According to Italian publication Gazzetta dello Sport, Sinner should be hiring the former fitness trainer of Novak Djokovic.
Marco Panichi worked with Novak Djokovic for a very long time before they split in May of this year, and should be joining Sinner's team as the fitness coach. When it comes to the physiotherapist, that's still an open question because Sinner hasn't yet made a decision on that.
For now, per reports from Gazzetta, the name of Claudia Zimaglia has been floated around but as mentioned above, no decision has been made yet. The Italian most recently competed at the US Open where he won the trophy.
It was a wonderful run that he capped off with a great performance against Taylor Fritz in the final, winning his second Grand Slam trophy in his career. There were rumors that Sinner could show up in Bologna this week for the 2024 Davis Cup Finals, but that won't be happening as the Italian was excluded from the squad.
The decision was made for the World No. 1 player to rest up and make his return later in Asia, where he has a couple of big events coming up, including the Shanghai Masters.
Sinner played well in Asia in the past, and it's the final outdoor hard court part of the calendar, and he's been exceptional in those conditions.
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