Dutch team in the Davis Captain Paul Haarhuis has heaped
praise on the attitude of Italy’s
Jannik Sinner. The 23-year-old is already regarded
as one of the best players currently playing in men’s tennis in the singles
category.
Sinner has had a fabulous season. He finished it off in
style as he helped Italy defend the title after beating Australia in the final
with a score of 2-0. With that, he only became the second player in the history
of men’s tennis in the singles category in the Open era to go a full season
without losing a single match in straight sets. The only other player to achieve
this feat was the former world number one Roger Federer in 2005.
That was the fourth major title for Sinner in 2024. Earlier,
he also lifted the Australian Open, the US Open and the ATP Finals which helped
him finish the year as the world number one. Despite those achievements, Sinner’s
year was marred because of a controversy which started after he was tested
positive for banned substance in March. Interestingly, he escaped a ban as the International
Tennis Integrity Association accepted player’s counsel’s response where they
claimed that the availability of a banned substance in the player was because
of receiving a cream from a member of the coaching staff to treat an injury.
The case has once again gathered attention after the World
Anti-Doping Agency decided to appeal against the case. Dutch coach Haarhuis was
asked about this during the ongoing
Davis Cup where he backed Sinner to come
out of the case clean. "What's my feeling? I feel that Jannik, in my
personal opinion, is an unbelievable nice guy (and) great player," he
said. "But we (might) never know what happened."
Sinner also talked about the issue during the Davis Cup and
admitted that the issue stays in his mind despite getting a lot of success on
the court. "I mean, of course it's in the head a little bit," he
said. "I always say, we had three
hearings; three hearings which came out in a positive way. So hopefully also
the next one (will). For me, the most important part is that all the people who
are around me, and know me as a human being, trust me, no? That's also the
reason I kept playing the level I had. Of course, I had some ups and downs, and
whoever knows me, (knows) I was emotionally a bit down and a bit also
heartbroken. But sometimes life gives you difficulties and you just have to
stand for it."