Jannik Sinner had a year of breakthroughs but doping cloud looms in 2025

1 Dec 2024

The Italian ended the year as the world No 1, but an appeal against his being cleared of using a banned substance will mar the start of 2025.

In a year in which Rafa Nadal’s retirement claimed the second of the big three era in men’s tennis, it was left to Italian maestro Jannik Sinner (23) to fill the growing void in the game.

Carlos Alcaraz had already stepped up as one replacement for a new dawn in tennis after Roger Federer walked away. But one great player is never enough. Any era worthy of standing out needs at least two protagonists of the same quality but of differing styles to define it.

In 2024, Sinner provided the mirror that Alcaraz needs to look into every day to understand that they are now inextricably locked in a rivalry that will not only shape their careers, but give men’s tennis its context for the next decade. As long as Alcaraz and Sinner are fit and playing, everything that happens in the sport for the foreseeable future will be measured against their standards.

Any player hoping to win a Grand Slam singles title will almost certainly have to go through one – or both – of them to get there.

Sinner standards

Sinner has just completed the most successful season in tennis by someone not named Federer, Nadal or Novak Djokovic for the first time in two decades.

He won 73 matches this year and lost only six. Interestingly, three of those six defeats were against Alcaraz, who beat Sinner each time they met and went on to win the tournament titles after beating the Italian.

Sinner won 29 of 30 matches in the second half of the year and claimed the Australian and US Open singles titles. He was the first player since Guillermo Vilas in 1977 to win his first and second Grand Slams in the same year.

Sinner led Italy to the Davis Cup title for a second straight year and also won the ATP Finals in Turin – the flagship tournament of men’s tennis outside the four Grand Slams.

In all, the lanky Italian won an incredible three Masters 1000 titles (the tournaments with the strongest fields outside the Grand Slams) and eight titles to end the year as the No 1-ranked player.

He won a whopping $16,914,035 in prize money. This excludes his earnings from the Davis Cup, since it is unclear how the Italian team would split the $2.68-million purse.

Another quirky statistic is that Sinner never lost a match in straight sets. In each of those six defeats this year, he took at least one set to underline just how hard he has become to beat. The only other player to have managed this feat in a single year was Federer in 2005, when the great Swiss had a 81-4 record.

It wasn’t just a breakthrough year – it was a seminal season that was better than most players’ entire careers. But the ever modest and likeable Sinner underplayed his achievements. “My goal was to understand what I can achieve this year,” he said after winning the ATP Finals.

“There was no specific goal of winning a Grand Slam or being No 1 or whatever. It’s going to be the same next year: whatever we can catch, we take, and the rest we learn. I think that was the mentality we approached this whole year [with] – trying to raise my level in specific moments, which I’ve done throughout this year.

“Going into my offseason [and] starting next year, I feel like I have a good idea of what things I need to improve on, but I also feel like I’m playing very good tennis.

“Back when I was five [in the rankings], I didn’t feel like I was five. Now I’m ranked where I’m at, I feel like I belong. It’s a different feeling. It’s been a great year. That gives me a lot of confidence to have that belief. That’s a huge part of having the big results.”

Positive drug test

Sinner might feel like he belongs, but there is still a cloud hanging over him regarding a positive doping test from a sample taken earlier in the year.

In March, he was tested as a routine procedure while playing at Indian Wells. His first positive sample was taken on 10 March and was found to contain traces of the banned anabolic agent clostebol. A second sample was taken eight days later and had the same adverse finding.

Read more: Jannik’s ‘sin’ might come back to haunt him — and spoil world tennis’ new fable

As it is mandated to do, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), which was established by tennis’s various governing bodies including the ATP, set up a tribunal to hear Sinner’s case and provide the athlete with a chance to clear his name.

A provisional suspension should have been applied with each positive test, as is the norm, but Sinner was allowed to keep playing after his legal team filed urgent appeals.

After hearings, the existence of which was not made public until months later, the ITIA took most of the sporting world by surprise when it issued a statement clearing him of any wrongdoing. It accepted his defence that the illegal substance had entered his system through massages and sports therapy by a member of his support team.

“We are encouraged that no fault or negligence has been found on Jannik Sinner’s part,” the ATP said at the time he was cleared.

“We would also like to acknowledge the robustness of the investigation process and independent evaluation of the facts under the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme, which has allowed him to continue competing.

“This has been a challenging matter for Jannik and his team, and underscores the need for players and their entourages to take utmost care in the use of products or treatments. Integrity is paramount in our sport.”

Tennis’s seemingly favourable treatment of Sinner through the tribunal process attracted the attention of the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada). The agency’s appeal against Sinner’s acquittal will be heard next year at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

According to reports in the Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport, Wada has filed its appeal brief and appointed its referee. The response of Sinner’s lawyers is expected to be delivered to the court in the coming weeks.

There is unlikely to be an outcome before February 2025, which means the case will still be hanging over Sinner during the defence of his Australian Open title in January. DM

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.

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