Jannik Sinner says he couldn’t have produced the extent of tennis that enabled him to retain his Australian Open title, if he knew he was responsible 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 on the hard-court Grand Slams after he additionally received the US Open.
Simply earlier than the fortnight in New York got here the shock information that Sinner had failed two doping exams final March however been cleared of blame, just for that call to be appealed towards by the World Anti-Doping Company.
On the eve of the Australian Open, in the meantime, the Courtroom of Arbitration for Sport introduced that the listening to would happen in April, which means Sinner may probably miss the 12 months’s subsequent Grand Slam, the French Open in Could, if he’s given a ban.
“I’m not thinking at the moment about this,” mentioned the 23-year-old, who’s the primary Italian man or lady to win three Grand Slam singles titles.
“I simply got here off an incredible run once more right here. I wish to take pleasure in this second. Then it is the listening to. We all know now the dates, and that is it.
“I am very proud. It is really robust to explain. Many, many issues occur off the courtroom, what you perhaps do not know. After I go on the courtroom, even when generally it is very tough to dam these type of issues, I’ve the group and people who find themselves near me who belief 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 hold enjoying like this as a result of I’ve a transparent thoughts on what occurred. If I do know if I might be responsible, I might not play like this. Each time it [the case] got here out in a really optimistic manner, and I nonetheless consider it should 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.”
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Highlights of Sinner’s victory over Taylor Fritz within the last of the ATP Finals in Turin
Sinner’s constant excellence within the face of such exterior negativity has been outstanding, with the Italian extending his unbeaten run to 21 matches relationship again to a loss to Carlos Alcaraz in Beijing in early October.
Like his massive rival, who despatched his congratulations, Sinner has received his first three Slam finals and is now just one behind the Spaniard, whereas he equalled an ATP document by successful 47 of his first 50 matches as world No 1.
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