The sun shone on Jannik Sinner’s face as he posed for the cameras with the silver trophy at the viewing point at Albert Park Lake. He carefully picked up the trophy for his third Grand Slam title in a row on his favorite surface and gave it a tender kiss. The hard court king, who plays relentlessly on the court as he did in the clearly won Australian Open final against German tennis star Alexander Zverev, enjoyed his third triumph like a gentleman.
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At that moment, the days of April 16th and 17th and the town of Lausanne were far away. But Sinner will soon be confronted with the hearing in his doping case before the International Court of Arbitration for Sports (Cas). Italy’s sports star still faces a ban of up to two years.
Sinner confirms: I’m innocent
“I’m not thinking about it at the moment,” said the world number one at the press conference after his triumph in Melbourne: “I’ve just had another great run. I want to enjoy this moment, to be honest.”
Sinner tested positive twice for the banned anabolic steroid Clostebol in March. He did not receive a ban because, according to the responsible agency Itia, no intentional fault or negligence could be proven. The World Anti-Doping Agency Wada objected to this.
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Sinner explained that the banned substance entered his body through the hands of his physiotherapist during a massage. He reiterated that he had done nothing wrong: “If I knew I was guilty, I wouldn’t play like that.”
Now the attack on sand and grass
In terms of sport, the South Tyrolean was beyond any doubt in Melbourne Park. Now he also wants to reach for the trophy on clay in Paris and grass at Wimbledon. Sinner announced that he would put “a lot of energy” into it: “Of course I want to improve as a player because I have the feeling that I can still improve in certain areas.”
But you can hardly play much better than Sinner at the Australian Open. Above all, the final, which was won in three sets against Zverev, who had almost no chance, turned into a demonstration of power. On the hard court, the Italian is currently “in a different universe than everyone else,” said Zverev, who drew parallels to Novak Djokovic in his best times: “Now it’s as if he’s Novak at his best.”
Sinner copied that from Djokovic
Sinner revealed that he tried to learn from the 24-time Grand Slam tournament winner from Serbia “how he deals with moments of pressure.” There is now hardly any noticeable difference on a mental level. “It’s amazing how Jannik Sinner ignores these background noises,” said Eurosport expert Boris Becker, referring to the doping debate.