"There has been some very tough moments": Jannik Sinner opens up about sleepless nights amidst doping scandal

Italy’s tennis star Jannik Sinner has opened up about ‘sleepless’ nights while going through a doping scandal. The 23-year-old is already regarded as one of the best players currently playing in men’s tennis in the singles category, along with Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz and Serbia’s Novak Djokovic.

Sinner has been in the news for the wrong reasons. He narrowly escaped a doping ban despite testing positive for a banned substance in two tests. The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), in a detailed statement, announced why they decided not to ban the reigning world number one despite testing positive on more than one occasion.

Sinner, who is currently in New York to participate in the fourth and final Grand Slam of the year—the US Open—was recently quoted in a report where he explained how difficult it was when he was made aware that he had tested positive. The San Candido-born star also explained that he suffered from ‘sleepless’ nights while dealing with the circumstances.

"It has impact quite a lot because I was ill, I was not feeling so much energy on the court,” he said. “I think you saw this in Wimbledon for example. There was sleepless nights sometimes, because thinking of this, there were some physical issues, maybe because of that, the first issue came because of the hip in Monaco exactly when it came out. So there has been some very tough moments throughout this whole process. I felt different on the court, I was not happy, I was not myself on the court, but now hopefully I can turn pages.”

Sinner is now set to compete in the US Open, where he will face America’s Mackenzie McDonald in the first round. He will be hoping for a much better show this year compared to last year, when he was knocked out after losing in the fourth round to Germany’s Alexander Zverev with a score of 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.