As Jannik Sinner spent the last three months away from the court – cycling through the streets around his residence in Monaco, or taking time off with family in the small, German-speaking town of South Tyrol in northern Italy – a perusal through the tennis scores would have brought some relief. His perch at the top of the world rankings remained untouched.
The 23-year-old makes his return to the tour at the Italian Open in Rome this week after serving a doping ban. It will be the first time he will be playing his home tournament as World No. 1. And he has maintained his spot, by some distance, despite having played only one tournament this year.
The chatter around Sinner’s ban, and the comfort with which he has been allowed to serve it, became the hottest story in the tennis world. And his return, still atop the ATP rankings in front of an adoring home crowd just in time to tune up for the French Open and Wimbledon, will rankle those who have alleged preferential treatment afforded to the best player in the world.
Sinner failed two dope tests in March last year, but appealed immediately and was allowed to compete until August, by which time it was announced that an independent tribunal had exonerated the Italian, accepting his explanation that it was a case of accidental contamination. The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) appealed the verdict, and a hearing was scheduled for April in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). But feeling uneasy about their case, WADA arranged a plea bargain with Sinner so that he would voluntarily accept a three-month ban starting mid-February, one that would see him miss no Grand Slam tournaments.
That Sinner remained virtually unaffected by the ban is not just due to its convenient timing, afforded to him by the manner in which WADA handled the case. The competition also failed to step up on the court in the months he was absent.
Despite playing, and winning, only the Australian Open this year, missing the first four Masters 1000 events – the Italian Open is the fifth – of the year, and dropping 2,100 ranking points, Sinner is guaranteed to be the top seed at the French Open, such is his lead as World No.1. Rivals have suffered physically or lapsed mentally, upstarts have entered the top 10, and the points Sinner dropped were taken by nobody.
If the depleted state of the competition at the top is ideal for the World No.1, the atmosphere for his return, too, could hardly be more exuberant.
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Jannik Sinner of Italy reacts after defeating Alexander Zverev of Germany in the men’s singles final at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025. (AP Photo)
Hero’s welcome
Sinner’s ban may raise a few eyebrows in the locker room, but certainly no discomfiture, much less any cynicism, was felt by the local fans; a 5,000-strong crowd thronged the Foro Italico to witness his first on-site training session since February. It was also shown live on local television.
About 5 km down the road, the conclave to elect the new pope will begin this week. Romans may be excused for not caring about the return of a tennis player, much less one who has had an awkward blemish against his name. But the spotlight on Sinner remains intact – the Corriere dello Sport, one of Italy’s biggest sports newspapers and the biggest in Rome, ran the headline ‘Rome is already crazy about Sinner’ on its front page on Tuesday.
The tennis will now have to do the talking, and the 23-year-old said he is expecting little from himself; he will use the Masters 1000 event in Rome, before the ATP 500 event in Hamburg, as preparation for the French Open. Each of his three Major titles has come on hard courts, and this is the year he wants to make a bid for Roland Garros and Wimbledon.
Sinner cannot be expected to be at his best but would be buoyed by the fact that none of his competitors have been either. Lapses in Carlos Alcaraz’s game have crept in with far more frequency. He started the clay season with a confidence-boosting title in Monte Carlo, but lost a disappointing final in Barcelona the week after, and had to withdraw from the Madrid Open due to injury – another roadblock coming in the way of him producing the consistency that Sinner showcased in 2024.
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Alexander Zverev, tennis’s perennial nearly-man, was expected to usurp the top spot in the rankings but has failed miserably, still far behind and even likely to lose his World No.2 spot in Rome. Novak Djokovic looks like a shadow of himself – there was a mini-spark in Melbourne, where he had been up to his problem-solving best, before an injury came in the way. In the spring, though, he has looked lost, and is skipping Rome, meaning he will enter Paris on a three-match losing streak.
A lot can change in a month, by which time the Musketeers’ Trophy will be lifted in Paris. But in the past three months, little has; even in his absence, the World No.1 remains in a league above the rest. He will hope to keep it that way.
