Jannik Sinner made it through the first two rounds of the ATP 500 in Beijing and qualified for the quarterfinals. The Italian ace - who is trying to defend last years title in China - defeated ChileanNicolas Jarry and Russian Roman Safiullin, despite losing the first set in both cases. The worldnumber 1 is not playing his best tennis, but his incredible mental strength has made a difference once again.
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The feeling is that events outside the tennis court are a little conditioning the level of Jannik. Today it was reported that WADA has decided to appeal the ITIA acquittal for Sinners Clostebol positivity (which had been taken in March). It will take some time before the final verdict is reached, around 5-6 months. The two-time Grand Slam champion - who is playing his best season of all his career - hoped to finally put this controversy behind him and instead suffered a very hard blow.
The Italians 2024 has been exceptional so far, with a crazy balance of 57 wins and only 5 losses. The 23-year-old from San Candido is almost certain to close the year at the top of the ATP ranking, given the huge gap from Alexander Zverev and Carlos Alcaraz. The world number 1 is trying to stay focused on the tennis court to close this year in the best way possible. Meanwhile, it has been announced that Jannik will not defend his title in Vienna.
A tough day
Its not an easy time for world number one Jannik Sinner. It seems strange to say since we are talking about a tennis player who has just won an impressive number of The Italian ace is struggling with the Wada case and in these hours the World Anti-Doping Agency has decided to appeal against the decision to absolve the Italian and released the following statement: "The World Anti-Doping Agency confirms that it has lodged an appeal on Thursday 26 September to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in the case of the Italian tennis player Jannik Sinner, Judged by an independent court of the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) without fault or negligence for being positive twice to Clostebol, a banned substance, in March 2024. The WADA considers that the finding of 'no fault or negligence' is not correct under the current rules and therefore requests a period of ineligibility between 1 and 2 years".
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Sinner manages to overcome the moments of difficulty in the best way and this time we are sure that he will succeed. On the court there is a data that testifies all this; the Italian ace in 2024 managed to win 9 times out of 11 cases when he was under after losing the first set. Devastating numbers and that testify to the great willpower of the Italian champion, very high percentages and above 80% when Jannik is below in the number of sets. The data is devastating, just see that Alcaraz in the same data in 2024 has achieved only 54% of wins from a set below.
In short, the numbers highlight the strength of Sinner on and off the courtand also today against Safiullin - despite immense pressure - the player from San Candido has won. The 2-time Grand Slam champion found the way to win against Safiullin: A tough match. Hes an incredible player and we always have tough battles. This was our third match, so we know each other a bit. He returns very well, and he was serving well at important moments. So I tried to keep up mentally, which today was very tough. Especially on these kinds of days, when maybe you dont feel at your 100 per cent, to find a way through means so much to me. Hes an incredible player, so I knew I had to raise my level when it counted.
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Sinner is disappointed
During the press conference, Sinner commented on WADAs decision: "I am obviously very disappointed with this appeal, as it has surprised me greatly because we had three hearings throughout the process with the ITIA, and all three were positive for me. I didn't expect this, to be honest.
I was informed two days ago that they would file this appeal, and they told me that today the news would be made public. I don't know, maybe the World Anti-Doping Agency just wants to make sure everything is correct, but it has been a surprise for me.There are things that cannot be controlled. The world number 1 will have to find a way to stay focused and calm in this last part of the season, even if it wont be easy.
