Jannik Sinner admits frosty locker room reception at US Open amid double doping scandal

Jannik Sinner opened up his US Open campaign by dumping out Mackenzie McDonald 2-6, 6-2, 6-1, 6-1 coming from a set down to do so as he look to remove the exterior noise.

Sinner has gone through a lot off the court in the past six months as he has dealt with a doping scandal. Albeit one that has only now seen the light of day.

But despite being cleared of any fault or negligence, it has still stirred debate in the tennis world and Sinner said there has been some reaction from players surrounding it.

“Yeah, there are some reaction,” Sinner admitted. “You know, I cannot really control what they think and what they talk. You know, that's how everything went and how it was, I already talk, no?

“I cannot control the players' reaction, and if I have something to say to someone, I go there privately, because I'm this kind of person. But, look, overall, it has been not bad. So I'm happy about that.”

Daniil Medvedev also touched upon it during his press conference and has a similar view to most who are chiming in that it needs to be the same for all and not just to do with status.

“I think my perspective is a little bit -- I think I saw Taylor (Fritz), and I really like what he said. He said, Look, it's only him who knows what happened exactly, so we cannot know. Nobody can know like the exact truth except him, his team, and maybe the guys who, like, the independent tribunal.

“I hope this situation can be the same for every player, like every player can defend himself, because I think what he did wasn't within the rules. It's just the rules are a little bit vague, et cetera.

“For me the only thing where I'm a little bit, like, doping cases make me scared is imagine -- so he knew what happened, and good for him, so he managed to defend himself. Imagine whatever tennis player in the top 100 gets an email, and they say, Look, there was cocaine in your blood.

“You come to them and you say, Well, I never did anything in my life. I don't know how did it get there. When you don't know, you get suspended. That's a little bit the tricky part, but that's how, yeah, doping rules are.

“It's okay. You go with it. As I said, I just hope it's the same treatment for every player.”