Jannik Sinner has revealed the \u201chardest moment\u201d of his three-month doping ban in his first press conference since his suspension officially ended.<\/p>\n
World No 1 Sinner\u2019s<\/a> ban ended on Sunday (May 4th), with the Italian now cleared to compete on the ATP Tour.<\/p>\n The 23-year-old had been suspended from February 2025 after settling his longstanding doping case with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).<\/p>\n Sinner twice tested positive for the banned steroid clostebol in March 2024, successfully arguing to the International Tennis Integrity Agency that this was the result of contamination.<\/p>\n He was initially found to be of \u201cno fault or negligence\u201d and cleared to compete in August 2024, before WADA launched its appeal into the leniency of the ruling.<\/p>\n The Italian triumphed at the Australian Open in January but has not been in action since then, with his suspension officially starting on February 9th.<\/p>\n Sinner\u2019s return to action comes on home soil at the Italian Open in Rome, with the world No 1 set to begin his campaign later this week.<\/p>\n The Italian has been able to train on officially recognised tennis sites since April 13th, though he was barred from official sporting venues at the start of his suspension.<\/p>\n Speaking in his first press conference in Rome, the 23-year-old admitted that this had been the \u201chardest\u201d part of his ban.<\/p>\n \u201cThe hardest moment of the suspension was at the beginning,\u201d said Sinner.<\/p>\n \u201cI couldn\u2019t attend any sporting event in real life. I don\u2019t know how many people know this but I couldn\u2019t go to the stadium to watch a football match or follow a cycling race of my friends. Or in motorsport.<\/p>\n \u201cThat for me was the toughest part. But all things considered, I tried to make the best of it. I was very glad also to spend time with my family.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite only playing one tournament across the opening four months of 2025, Sinner still holds a comfortable lead as the world No 1, and is fourth in the ATP Race to Turin.<\/p>\n ATP Italian Open draw: Sinner handed tough pathway in comeback tournament, Alcaraz in Zverev\u2019s half<\/a><\/p>\n ATP Rankings: Sinner back and still No 1, Draper and Musetti\u2019s highs, Gabriel Diallo +24<\/a><\/p>\n Many have predicted that the three-time Grand Slam champion will quickly return to top form and contend for the Italian Open and Roland Garros titles across the next month.<\/p>\n Sinner is set to play his home Masters 1000 event for the first time since 2023, having skipped the event twelve months ago due to injury.<\/p>\n He reached the last eight in Rome back in 2022, though he has failed to reach the quarter-final in his four other appearances at the tournament.<\/p>\n Sinner is set to play in Rome and then at the ATP 500 Hamburg Open before Roland Garros, the second Grand Slam tournament of 2025.<\/p>\n And, despite what could be an emotional homecoming, the Italian concedes that his priority is to try and win a fourth major title in Paris \u2013 with \u201clow expectations\u201d for the coming fortnight.<\/p>\n He added: \u201cI have to say I have low expectations for this tournament. I\u2019ve been sitting out for so long and I don\u2019t have any feedback on how I\u2019m going to play.<\/p>\n \u201cThe goal will be Paris. I\u2019m not here to beat anyone but to try to get through the first round and then we\u2019ll see what can happen. It\u2019s difficult for me to start a new tournament and get back to the rhythm.<\/p>\n \u201cBut we\u2019re very calm, we\u2019re physically and mentally well, we\u2019re rested, which will pay off at the end of the season too.\u201d<\/p>\n As one of the seeded players in the Rome draw, Sinner will not start his campaign until the second round.<\/p>\n His first match post-ban will come in round two against either Italian rising star Federico Cina, or Argentina\u2019s Mariano Navone.<\/p>\n Read Next<\/strong>:\u00a0Hamburg Open 2025 ATP Entry List: Sinner, Musetti, Rune & Tsitsipas headline, but no Zverev or Fils<\/a><\/p>\n The post Jannik Sinner reveals \u2018hardest moment\u2019 of three-month ban in first post-suspension press conference<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jannik Sinner has revealed the \u201chardest moment\u201d of his three-month doping ban in his first press conference since his suspension officially ended. World No 1 Sinner\u2019s ban ended on Sunday (May 4th), with the Italian now cleared to compete on the ATP Tour. The 23-year-old had been suspended from February 2025 after settling his longstanding […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Italian Open News<\/h2>\n