World number one coach Darren Cahill says Yannick Sinner is “physically and mentally” exhausted following his positive doping test.
The Italian tested positive twice in March for clostebol, a steroid that can be used to build muscle mass. No fault or fault Last week at the Independent Court.
The International Tennis Integrity Authority (ITIA) said Sinner was accidentally contaminated with the substance by physiotherapist Giacomo Naldi.
Since being first warned in early April for a doping violation, Sinner has won tournaments in Halley and Cincinnati and has climbed to world No. 1 for the first time in her career.
“If you’re not a Jannik fan, you probably won’t see much of a difference in what he’s been doing the last couple months, because he’s still been playing pretty well,” Cahill told his ESPN colleague Chris McKendry.
“But if you’re a Yannick fan, you’ve seen a big difference in his body language on the court, his physical activity, his excitement about being on the court. He’s been struggling and I think it’s worn him down physically and mentally.
“He had tonsillitis, and that’s why he didn’t go to the Olympics.
“I just want to emphasize that he is the most professional young man I have ever had the opportunity to work with. He would never do anything intentionally and he is in a very unfortunate situation.”
The World Anti-Doping Agency told BBC Sport it would “carefully review this decision” before deciding whether to appeal – an approach it takes in all cases.
Some players took to social media to claim Sinner was treated differently because she was ranked world number one.
And Chris Evert, an 18-time Grand Slam singles champion, said he believed authorities were protecting the best players.
“If there’s a player who doesn’t want media attention, they’ll keep certain things a secret,” Ebert said during a conference call before ESPN’s U.S. Open broadcast.
“I think there are a few things [more] “You’ll get better protection than Joe Smith, who’s ranked 400th in the world.”
Sinner’s attorney denied that his client received special treatment.
“It’s perfectly reasonable to think that way, but I think the opposite is true,” Jamie Singer told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“ITIA took it particularly seriously because he was a superstar. But it was an independent tribunal that made that decision and that’s the important part here. No one within tennis made that decision, independent umpires made that decision.
“That had a huge impact on him. He became a different character over the summer, much more introverted.
“Jannik personally never did anything wrong. It was a mistake made by the physiotherapist, and because the physiotherapist made a mistake, he lives under all this scrutiny.”
