The hip in the background, the Cincinnati victory in the foreground, the increasingly comfortable King of Tennis chair there on display and the upcoming US Open as a delicious dish to be savored. The beginning of this editorial was almost predictable as an easy high volley a meter from the net with the entire court at our disposal. Instead, yesterday afternoon’s news of Jannik Sinner’s positive-acquittal has inevitably shaken the tennis circuit (but not only) and requires a serious re-examination of the last five months of our greatest champion.

While we were all trying to catch up with the heads of orthopedics around the world to understand how to treat Jannik’s hip, in the last few hours we had to make up ground on the drug Clostebol, familiarize ourselves with the procedures by which the International Tennis Integrity Agency operates and study the recent case law in cases like this.

Nobody questions Sinner’s good faith

Let’s start with facts that no one, if not in bad faith, can question. Jannik Sinner, subjected to two tests on March 10 and 18, was found positive for Clostebol with infinitesimal values, less than a billionth of a gram, which prove that the intake was involuntary. Jannik’s innocence was supported first by the investigations of the ITIA that heard the player and the members of his staff, and subsequently sanctioned by three judges used by the Independent Tribunal with the sentence published yesterday: “No fault or negligence for the two violations of the anti-doping rules”, the verdict states, however since Sinner is also responsible for the actions of his staff, the 400 points obtained in the 1000 of Indian Wells and the related prize of 325 thousand dollars were taken away from him.

Everyone knows about the reconstruction by now. Umberto Ferrara, Jannik’s athletic trainer, during the days of the Indian Wells tournament “passes” Trofodermin (which contains Clostebol) to physiotherapist Giacomo Naldi to treat a cut that Naldi himself had suffered on a finger. Naldi uses it and, during the usual treatments to Sinner, the substance enters the athlete’s body.

Now Wada and the Italian Anti-Doping Agency (Nado Italia) will be able to present an appeal within 21 days of the ruling, so until September 6, or during the final stages of the US Open. These are facts and are not up for discussion.

Jannik’s character

More complicated but necessary to delve into what Jannik has had to manage and endure in these months. Tennis, we know, is a sport where the mental component is decisive. For Juan Carlos Ferrero, Alcaraz’s coach, “the game is 50% mental, 45% physical and 5% tennis-like”. Sinner has played the last five months with the shadow of a disqualification hanging over his shoulders and a hip problem that has been dragging on since last April and that is keeping him awake at night. Others would not have endured much less. Jannik, supported by two coaches and special people like Simone Vagnozzi and Darren Cahill, has managed in this period to win Halle and Cincinnati, and to reach the semifinals at Roland Garros and the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. This says a lot about the character of this heritage of Italian sport which, as such, must be managed in the best possible way starting from the details that are not really details.

Turning the page will not be easy for the number 1. It is often said that in Italy everything is forgiven except success, but it is not as if envy and gossip are exclusive to us. How will Jannik be welcomed on the circuit, starting with the American Slam? Will there be changes in his staff? If there is a player who has shown he has enough certainty and personality to leave this story behind him, it is Sinner, however imagining that he will not leave any residue is naive.

Reactions and thoughts: the usual Kyrgios

The odds that the first comment would come from Kyrgios’ social media account were 1.01. A player with a golden arm and a mind of clay, Nick has danced very few nights and is now more active as a commentator than as a tennis player. On the same wavelength is Canadian Denis Shapovalov, someone who, if the ATP rankings were determined based on the tennis quality present in the body, could never leave the top five, and instead with the current rules he is outside the 100.

Rather than the outbursts of those seeking visibility or the not even worth mentioning of those who use the headboard to find their fifteen minutes of glory but reveal buckets of ignorance, an in-depth analysis should instead be done on the 360-degree management of racket champions.

Tennis has changed a lot: materials, surfaces, balls, athletic training, and consequently also the technique applied at incredible speeds. From the times of McEnroe who trained playing doubles, passing through Lendl who was the first to equip himself with an extended staff, up to today when behind a top 20 there are no less than a dozen people and professionalism, and sometimes even more: but are we so sure that even the attention from a medical point of view has grown in step with everything else? In soccer when a player gets hurt the team doctor comes on the field, in tennis a physiotherapist arrives.

With an increasingly busy calendar that could get even busier (a Masters 1000 at the home of the Emirs?), and with the need to play numerous tournaments to aim for the top positions and the ATP Finals at the end of the season, tennis has taken a path that puts players in complicated conditions. Is it just a coincidence that the three youngest stars of this generation (Sinner, Alcaraz and Rune) have already collected injuries of a certain severity?

The “Sinner case”, between superficiality that led to the positivity to Clostebol and the hip problems, should make those who are responsible for the management of these extraordinary champions and those who plan, care for and monetize their activity reflect. Always putting everything and only in the hands of the player is unfair: it is impossible to train, improve shots and mind, compete, travel and at the same time have the clarity to make decisions on medical, managerial, organizational aspects and so on.

Towards the US Open

Returning to the playing field, Sinner, after giving up the Paris Games, seemed to be approaching the last Slam of the season in second place, with Alcaraz firmly in pole position and fresh from the Roland Garros-Wimbledon double (and Olympic final), and Djokovic fresh from the gold he was missing. Jannik, on the other hand, having registered the giving up of one of the most important objectives of his season, had returned to Montreal with more doubts than certainties. You can lose to Rublev, it’s certainly not a disgrace, but what was worrying were his grimaces aimed at his right hip, which has now become a national interest like Baggio’s knees or Tomba’s muscles were back in the day.

A week goes by and the list of favorites for New York needs updating again. Jannik, in fact, does not yet have the physique of the greatest, but the temper is that of a champion. Winning the Cincinnati Masters 1000, fifth title of the season and 15th in his career, with those premises is something that only true number 1s can do. “I won’t be able to work miracles in Cincinnati”, Sinner admitted after the knockout with Rublev in Canada. Well, happy that he proved himself wrong. The rematch against the Russian and the success with Zverev, a player with whom he historically struggles because he is one of the few capable of withstanding the impact of his shots, give us (again) a Jannik who has everything to go to Flushing Meadows with the concrete possibility of equaling the majors won by Alcaraz in this 2024. And the nervousness of the Spaniard in the match then lost against Monfils certifies that the disappointment for the gold that slipped away in Paris has left behind perhaps unexpected residues.

The victory in the Cincinnati 1000 also allows Sinner to secure his position as world number 1 until after the US Open and to surpass in the all-time rankings (there are 29 tennis players in total who have led tennis in the ATP era, from 1973 to today) a true legend like “Bum Bum” Becker, capable of winning six Slams in his career and of marking the history of tennis much more than the days spent at the top say. A Becker who at a certain point, a couple of years ago, just when Sinner was maturing his decision to separate from Riccardo Piatti, seemed very close to coaching the Italian. Sinner also joins the American Andy Roddick in the number 1 club and has an excellent chance of catching up with another sacred monster of this sport in October, Mats Wilander, seven majors in his collection and 20 weeks as the first player on the planet.

But first we have to break the “taboo” of the last slam of the season, the only one where the Italian has not yet managed to reach at least the semifinal. On paper, for conditions and surface, it is his tournament: go Jannik, it’s your turn.