Jannik Sinner's coach, Darren Cahill, spoke about the Italian's doping saga ahead of the 2024 US Open, explaining how he has dealt with it over the past few months.
A few days ago, it was announced that Sinner had tested positive twice for a banned substance in March. The Italian tested positive for clostebol twice, eight days apart, but was allowed to continue competing during the internal investigation.
Generally, when a player tests positive, they are given a short amount of time to explain what happened, and after that, a formal investigation is launched into the matter.
While most players are provisionally suspended from play during the investigation, Sinner wasn't after the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) concluded that his explanation was reasonable.
Per procedures, an investigation was then launched, and it recently concluded that the Italian had cleared of any wrongdoing. This was all happening away from the public eye because the whole process was kept secret.
It was only announced recently when he was fully cleared of any wrongdoing. It was huge news and created multiple narratives around what had happened, so Darren Cahill sat down with ESPN to provide some insight on what was going on internally during all those weeks.
According to Cahill, Sinner was told about it in April, which impacted him deeply.
"I guess if you are not a Jannik fan, you may not see too much difference in what he has been doing the last few months because he has still been playing quite well."
"But if you are a Jannik fan, you would have seen a big change in his body language, physicality on the court, his excitement to be on the court - he's struggled and I think it's worn him down physically and mentally."
Sinner's results did cool off after winning Miami in March, and according to Cahill, much of that had to do with what was happening behind the scenes. He might not have been suspended from the sport, but it was still a pretty bitter pill to swallow.
Athletes don't want their names associated with any kind of banned substance, accident or not. It's just not a good look, and it becomes an asterisk in their legacy. This will be mentioned alongside all of Sinner's accomplishments, and that's unfortunate.
Cahill gushed over Sinner's professionalism and found it very regrettable that an accidental confrontation through his physio occurred.
"I just want to stress that he's maybe the most professional young man that I have ever had the chance to work with. He would never ever intentionally do anything and he's in a situation that is incredibly unfortunate."
The whole situation created quite a stir on social media as it was a bit bizarre. The sequence of events is plausible and likely true, but keeping it quiet as they certainly got some people to suggest certain things.
When the ITIA is involved, which has received its fair share of criticism from many athletes, it's just an unfortunate situation for Sinner, who has had a superbly clean image up until this point. It clearly impacted his play as well.
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