Jannik Sinner in the court of public opinion as World No.1 speaks out for first time at US Open after doping scandal

Jannik Sinner heads into the US Open which begins on Monday August 26 under a wall of heavy scrutiny after the doping scandal which has engulfed him over the past week.

Sinner tested positive twice for the substance Clostebol during Indian Wells. But it only came out after the fact this past week with Sinner being able to escape it being made public.

When it was, it was due to Sinner being under no fault for the case. But despite that the tennis judge jury and executioner have come for Sinner in the past week with their own takes. He remains defiant though despite worry.

Albeit he wasn't grilled too much during the press conference on Media Day with the Italian's portion on the topic being cut short by the moderator with likely the room of journalists queuing up to quiz him on it.

“Of course I was worried, because it was the first time for me, you know, and hopefully the last time that I am in this situation, position,” said Sinner.

“There also a different part we have to see is the amount I had in my body, which is 0.000000001, so there are a lot of zeroes before coming up a 1.

“So I was worried, of course, because I’m always the player who was working very, very carefully in this. I believe I’m a fair player on and off the court. And yeah, that’s a bit how it all was and how it went.”

But being asked about his reputation in light of this, he remains defiant that he always knew he was in the right and that it has him questioning facets of his life now in terms of who he trusts.

“Yeah, that’s a good question,” Sinner replied. “For me, I always believed that, I kept playing tennis because in my mind I knew that I hadn’t done anything wrong.

“I knew that I was very clean, I knew that I was always looking forward to be a fair player.

“Obviously it’s coming out this notification, it might change couple of things but whoever knows me very well knows that I haven’t done and I would never do something what goes against the rules.

“Obviously it has been a very tough moment for me and my team. It still is because it’s quite fresh, but yeah I mean let’s see.

“Here I also know who is my friend and who is not my friend, no? Because my friends, they know that I would never do that. About the reputation, we will see moving forwards, no? Because this, I can’t really control. So let’s see.”