Rob Koenig criticizes Sinner's coaching staff amid injury concerns

Tennis commentator Rob Koenig has criticised world number two Jannik Sinner’s coaching staff for pushing him to continue playing in Madrid despite feeling pain.

The 22-year-old is already regarded as one of the most highly-rated players currently playing in men’s tennis in the singles category along with Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz.

Sinner is having a fabulous season. He already won his first Grand Slam after beating Russia’s Daniil Medvedev in a five-set thrilling final of the Australian Open in straight sets with a score of 3–6, 3–6, 6–4, 6–4, 6–3.

The reigning world number two then went on to win the ATP title in Rotterdam and Miami and played in the semifinals of the Indian Wells and Monte-Carlo Masters.

Sinner’s most recent appearance came in the Madrid Open, where his journey ended when he had to withdraw just before the start of the quarterfinal against Felix Auger Aliassime because of a hip injury.

That injury also ruled him out of the Rome Masters whereas his participate in the second Grand Slam of the year — the French Open — also remains in doubt.

Koenig, in a post on his official account on social media platform X — previously known as Twitter — has lambasted Sinner’s coaching staff for pushing him to play despite his complaints of feeling pain.

"Will be sad if Sinner misses RG, man I love watching him compete,” he wrote. "One thing I’ll never understand though, is a player asking his team if he should continue…JS clearly in discomfort in Madrid, Simone urging him to carry on after Jannik said “it hurts” (groin area).

"….could prove to be a costly decision. Only the player knows how bad their injury feels. I had a bad feeling at the time that this could come back to bite, Jannik. To miss Rome and (perhaps) RG, would confirm it was the wrong decision to keep playing in Madrid, IMO. #GetWellSoon.

I’m not confusing niggles with pain…you’re right, most players play with discomfort somewhere, but this was different. You don’t see him saying “it hurts” every other week. That was the red flag for me.🚩”