In the most scandalous context of tennis, the paradox of silence. It is midday in New York and at the central court of Flushing Meadows, where there are few fans at that time, the world number one, Jannik Sinner, is playing, the man to whom almost everything points and who is received and seen off in a neutral manner. Protocolary applause, but just enough. Absence of any judgement. The sun is beating down like every other day and the characteristic humidity of the city envelops the episode, but inside the cauldron, neither cold nor hot towards the protagonist: no sign of pronouncement. In between, a run-of-the-mill match (2-6, 6-2, 6-1 and 6-2 to Mackenzie McDonald) and nothing particularly noteworthy except the set conceded by the Italian, who then corrects himself, straightens up and progresses on tiptoe, as if he did not want to be a nuisance after the storm unleashed since the positive test for clostebol was announced.
He is given away by the reaction in the conference room, where he jumps up as if he were answering the last question in English, even though the questions in Italian are still pending. He sits down again and answers. “I was curious to see what the reaction of the people would be, and it has been very positive; I am very happy with the support, even though I was playing against an American. I am happy with how I have handled the situation, it was not easy, so we will see how it goes in the next round,” answers the tennis player from San Cándido, who now prescribes to take it “day by day” and appreciates the response of his followers once the news broke, a week ago, after he raised the Cincinnati trophy and at the doors of this US Open in which his name has come to the forefront of the media.
Sinner stresses that he cannot control what his colleagues on the circuit say, aware that opinions are divided these days and that, at the same time, criticism of the process prevails over that of the athlete. “If I have something to say to someone, I say it in private because that’s how I am, but in general it hasn’t been bad,” continues the redhead, who spoke for 10 minutes in the conference room and the day before had gone into greater detail about his defence of his innocence in an interview given to ESPN.
“I repeat, I was treated like everyone else. The reason I continued playing was because we knew exactly how (the substance) had entered my body and where it came from, right? And it was in the spray (used by his now former physiotherapist, who massaged it into him after, they claim, having used it to treat a cut),” said the current circuit governor. “I have not had any different treatment and it has not been an easy period for me, so I am happy. It has been a very hard time, full of doubts, so I am glad that it is finally over; I have taken a great weight off my shoulders. I hope that none of the players have to go through this and I also hope that people understand why they let me continue playing and why they decided that there was no guilt,” he said on the American channel, while the program designed by the tournament organizers placed him in the morning shift and not in the evening, as would probably have happened under other circumstances.
Discreet in his own right, Sinner assumes the situation and hopes that the storm will calm down while he sees how his game responds. He arrives with “low expectations,” he announced on Saturday, and at the next stop he will meet up with another local player, Alex Michelsen, while behind the scenes those in charge give a controlled presentation of the player. Champion at the beginning of the season in Australia and later in Rotterdam, Miami and Halle, after his time at Wimbledon he missed the Olympic Games – due to a last-minute tonsillitis – and he is not on the bill for the Laver Cup, an event dressed up as a party that will be held in Berlin from the 20th to the 22nd of this month. Alcaraz, Nadal and other ATP figures will parade down the catwalk, but not him, the young man hidden in his shell.
From above, the body that governs men’s tennis made a move a couple of months ago and assigned one of its employees to manage the communication of the tennis player, who is set to be one of the new references. “This situation shows how strong he is mentally. I don’t know what it’s like to live with something like that inside you for months, but he has managed to be competitive and has always played very well. He has taken a huge weight off his shoulders and I’m sure he will feel much better from now on,” says Croatian Ivan Ljubicic, Roger Federer’s last coach. The murmur, however, sounds with the same force as the noise that accompanies the matches at Arthur Ashe, where the fans for the moment watch and contain themselves in the midst of a strange atmosphere.
Sinner, epicenter of today against his will.
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