Jannik Sinner reveals a three -month doping ban left him lost and confused

Janik Sinner says he is lost and confused after a quarterly doping ban was handed over.

The three-time Grand Slam champion agreed on a settlement with the World Anti-Doping Agency in February after the authorities accepted anabolic agent Clostebol that he had entered his system of massages of his physiotherapist.

“At the beginning, I was a little confused because I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do,” Sinner said on Monday – the day the ban expired – after his arrival at the Italian Open.

“Then I went home and stayed with my family. I tried to better understand what matters to me.

“I know how much the victim I gave and my daily routine was always a practice, practiced, practiced. But at that moment I had none of that.

“I realized that people are important people next to you. To give you the strength to move forward and continue to smile.”

Sonner, who was not on the field from a victory at the Australian Open in January, returned to training on April 13 on the eve of the abolition of his suspension of serving on May 4.

The 23-year-old returns to the field for the first time in three months at this week’s Italian Open-Live on Sky Sports.

The Italian Open is the last big tournament with a clay ground before French Open – Second Grand Slam – started on May 25th.

“I didn’t want to do it at first, and it was also not easy for me to accept it, because I know what really happened,” Sinner said about the ban.

“But sometimes we have to choose the best at a very bad moment, and that’s what we did. So, it’s all now. So I’m happy to play tennis again.”

Despite missing three months of action, Sinner was sure that he had kept a superb rank for his home tournament after his closest challenger, Alexander Zverev, crashed to the early defeat in Monte-Carlo masters.

It will mark the first time Italy had a player number 1 for his home tournament, and Sinner wanted to become the first Italian man of Adrian Panatt in 1976, who won the title in Rome.

Sonner, who received the first round, will face no. 99 Mariano Navone or 18-year-old Italian Wildcard Federico Cin in the second round, although he manages expectations given his recent inactivity.

“It’s a very, very low expectation tournament for me,” Sinner said. “At first, it’s a very strange feeling to be around so many people and attention. But it’s nice to come back.”

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