Jannik Sinner might be in a situation he has never experienced before, but he's confident that he will emerge victorious.
Only recently, the Italian player learned the news about testing positive for a banned substance, clostebol. That happened back in March, and since then, Sinner has gone through an investigation with the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA).
After a few months, the case was made public, and Sinner was cleared of any wrongdoing. He thought the case was over and started again enjoying his time on the tennis, which was highlighted by his win at the 2024 US Open.
It was the second major he won in his tennis career, he was arguably at the peak of his game, but little did he know that in the background, another significant blow was coming.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) appealed the ITIA's ruling, sending the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). This development was shocking and surprised everyone involved, not just Sinner.
Since then, he has had to answer multiple questions about the appeal, including at the recently concluded China Open, where he lost in the final to Carlos Alcaraz.
After the final, the World No. 1 player on the ATP Tour moved to another Chinese city, Shanghai, where he will compete as the top seed at the 2024 Shanghai Masters. Naturally, ahead of the tournament, he was asked about the appeal again.
"Yeah, you know, I already answered this in Beijing about the appeal, that I'm a bit surprised, and, you know, but in another way I knew that there is potentially that this could happen. It happened, I'm still surprised, but I will, you know, collaborate like I did before."
The Italian player detailed that he already had three hearings, which he felt went 'his way', and despite the unexpected appeal, he remains confident in his innocence and hopes that he will be able to avoid a suspension.
"I had three hearings, which the three hearings went all my way, which, you know, it was good, but now let's see, you know, but I'm very confident that it comes out very positively, or I would be very, very surprised if it would be the opposite side."
Of course, the 23-year-old admitted he doesn't feel comfortable in this situation. It's something he's never experienced before, and dealing with the case, then the appeal, multiple questions from the media, and having to play tennis matches in between certainly isn't easy.
On top of that, the World No. 1 player thought that the case was already closed, only for WADA to surprisingly re-open it and send it to CAS.
"You know, it's not a situation where I feel comfortable in, that's for sure, because I thought it was over, and now once again, so it's not easy."
In Shanghai, the Italian player will start in the second round of the tournament against Taro Daniel, having had a first-round bye at the ATP Masters 1000 event. The tournament organizers also gave him and Carlos Alcaraz an extra day of rest, as the two had a really short turnaround from Beijing.
Still, Sinner didn't have a lot of time to enjoy himself in Shanghai, as he mostly tried to recover from the brutal China Open final, and attended some sponsor events.
"No, I haven't done anything. Me and Carlos, we had a nice event with Nike. You know, we made some appearance there, which was very nice to connect also with some fans, which was great."
"I'm just trying a little bit to rest, I went a bit in the gym, and now today I practice here for the first time. As I said, it's always special to come back here, and then, hopefully, I will be ready for tomorrow's first match."