Jannik Sinner says he could not have produced the level of tennis that enabled him to retain his Australian Open title, if he knew he was guilty in his ongoing doping case.
The world No 1 defeated Alexander Zverev 6-3 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 in Melbourne to make it three victories in a row at the hard-court Grand Slams after he also won the US Open.
Just before the fortnight in New York came the shock news that Sinner had failed two doping tests last March but been cleared of blame, only for that decision to be appealed against by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
On the eve of the Australian Open, meanwhile, the Court of Arbitration for Sport announced that the hearing would take place in April, meaning Sinner could potentially miss the year’s next Grand Slam, the French Open in May, if he is given a ban.
Nick Kyrgios criticised the doping cases involving Sinner and Iga Swiatek, saying it has been handled ‘horrifically’ and that ‘treatment has to be fair for everyone’
“I’m not thinking at the moment about this,” said the 23-year-old, who is the first Italian man or woman to win three Grand Slam singles titles.
“I just came off an amazing run again here. I want to enjoy this moment. Then it’s the hearing. We know now the dates, and that’s it.
“I’m very proud. It’s actually tough to describe. Many, many things happen off the court, what you maybe don’t know. When I go on the court, even if sometimes it’s very difficult to block these kind of things, I have the team and people who are close to me who trust me.
“That for me is even more important because I can talk very openly with them. When I go on court, I try to focus on the match. Of course, it’s still a little bit in the back of your mind. I know that I’m in this position now. So nothing I can change.
“I keep playing like this because I have a clear mind on what happened. If I know if I would be guilty, I would not play like this. Every time it [the case] came out in a very positive way, and I still believe it’s going to be that case.
“At the moment I’m not thinking about this. Of course, you have your moments of certain days where you feel like I wish I would not have this problem.”
Highlights of Sinner’s victory over Taylor Fritz in the final of the ATP Finals in Turin
Sinner’s consistent excellence in the face of such outside negativity has been remarkable, with the Italian extending his unbeaten run to 21 matches dating back to a loss to Carlos Alcaraz in Beijing in early October.
Like his big rival, who sent his congratulations, Sinner has won his first three Slam finals and is now only one behind the Spaniard, while he equalled an ATP record by winning 47 of his first 50 matches as world No 1.
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