ROMA – Giannik Sinner was surprised that fellow players sent messages of support just like those who sent nothing at the start of his three-month doping ban.
The top-ranked player is back in tennis at the Italian Open this week as a settlement with the world’s anti-doping agency allowed the sinners to return to their home tournaments without missing out on the grand slam.
“At the start of the pause, I received some amazing messages from some players, but then others I thought I had heard didn’t send anything,” Sinner said. “But I’m not going to make a name.”
The settlement comes after last year suing the International Tennis Integrity Agency for its decision to exonerate the offender completely from what was deemed an accidental contamination from anabolic steroids that was banned in March 2024.
Many fellow pros feel that the sinner was treated too lightly, and the sinner recently discussed how he didn’t really feel comfortable in the locker room and player lounge when he ran to the second Australian open title in January, saying, “The players were looking at me differently.”
Coach Simone Vagnozzi said he and other Thinner coach Darren Cahill also felt glare.
“I think it’s almost inevitable that everyone will look at you when something like that happens, but Vagnozzi said, highlighting the thankful comments from Holger Rune’s mothers, Casper Rood and Alexander Zverev.
In the last month of his ban, the sinner practiced at training bases in Jack Draper, Lorenzo Sonego, Rune and Monaco.
The sinner was unable to see his friend compete at the start of his suspension, and the sinner was banned from entering a licensed sporting event.
“I wanted to support my friends in cycling and motorsports,” Sinner said. “I couldn’t get there. That was the toughest part for me.”
In March, professional cyclist Giulio Sicon posted a photo on Instagram of himself posing on his bike with sinners and Ferrari endurance drivers Alberto Giovinazzi and Alessandro Pia Giudi.
Vagnozzi wants to help coach sinners. Cahill announced he would retire at the end of the year, and Vagnozzi was asked if he would lead the sinner himself.
“I could do it myself,” Vagnozzi said. “But it’s important for players at this level to have a different perspective. And it’s important that sometimes you split the weeks you spend with the players. Otherwise, it’s 365 days/year work, and that’s a bit.
“But we have such a great relationship, so we hope Darren stays for another five years. He may be the best coach ever in terms of outcomes and other factors.”
Vagnozzi mentioned how the sinner, the fourth player to coach Australians, coached, following Andre Agassi, Lleyton Hewitt and Simona Halep. “But more than anything, he’s a special person.”
Saturday’s thinner play will face No. 99 Mariano Navone or the 18-year-old Italian wild card Federicosina on Saturday. He will be on a 21-match winning streak, but has not played an official match since January.
Also, the red clay of the Italicofolo is not the best surface of the sinner. Only one of his 19 career titles appeared in the soil in UMAG, Croatia in 2022.
“It’s definitely the surface he’s not sure of himself,” Vagnozzi said. “But last year he had a good clay season and reached the semi-finals in the Monte Carlo and the French Open and Madrid quarter-finals.
The last Italian to win the Rome title was Adriano Panatta in 1976.