Sinner Details the Loss and Confusion He Felt after Accepting Doping Ban
Jannik Sinner has said he was lost and confused after receiving a three-month doping ban in a settlement with the World Anti-Doping Agency in February.
The top-ranked tennis player suddenly didn’t know what do with himself away from the game he had dedicated almost his entire life to.
“At the start I was a bit confused because I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do,” Sinner said Monday — the day the ban expired — upon his arrival at the Italian Open. “Then I went home and stayed with my family. I tried to understand better what was really important to me.
“I know how many sacrifices I made and my daily routine was always practice, practice, practice,” Sinner added. “But at that moment I didn’t have any of that. I came to understand that what’s important to me are the people by your side. That they give you the strength to move forward and continue smiling.”
Besides his family in the German-speaking Alto Adige region of northern Italy, Sinner also spent more time with friends at home in Monaco, participated in other sports like cycling, and then only gradually came back to tennis.
“We went about a month without touching (a racket) and then we restarted really softly,” Sinner said. “When we started pushing more, blisters developed on my hands. That was something I hadn’t experienced in a long time.”
