ROME: World number one Jannik Sinner, who is about to return to action after a three-month doping ban, thought about walking away from tennis even while successfully defending his Australian Open title, but is coming back with a new mentality.
Sinner accepted a three-month ban in February after a settlement with the World Anti-Doping Agency, who had appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport against an independent tribunal’s decision in August to clear him.
The Italian had tested positive for anabolic agent clostebol which Sinner said entered his system from a member of his support team through massages and sports therapy.
Sinner won the Australian Open in January, with the WADA case hanging over him, and was asked during an interview with Italian broadcaster RAI on Tuesday whether he had ever considered giving up tennis.
“Yes, yes. I remember before the Australian Open this year, I was not in a very happy moment because there was still that case of doping,” Sinner said.
“I didn’t feel really comfortable in the locker room, where I ate. It was a bit like some players looked at me differently and I didn’t like it at all. And there I said it’s heavy to live tennis in this way.
“I didn’t feel comfortable and then I said, maybe after Australia, a little bit of free time, in the sense where I take a little break it will do me good.”
Sinner was then forced into a break by the ban, but is now back in training for the upcoming Italian Open next month.
“Slowly, I’m getting back into the rhythm of real training with a goal in front of me,” Sinner said.
“Sometimes it goes very well, sometimes there is a drop and I don’t know why, so I will certainly be very happy to return to the court.
“Especially in Rome, it is a special tournament for me, but I certainly enter with a slightly different mentality. I miss the competition. I am certainly very happy that this phase is now over and we are ready to start again.”
Sinner’s settlement brought plenty of criticism from both current and former players, with Serena Williams saying she would have been banned for 20 years and had her Grand Slam titles taken away had she tested positive in a similar fashion.
“I mean, I don’t even want to answer. Everyone is free to say what they want, everyone can judge, but that’s okay,” Sinner said.
“It’s important to me that I know how that happened, but above all also of what I went through and it was very difficult.
“I don’t wish it on anyone to really pass as innocent something like that because it wasn’t easy, but we are in a world where everyone can say what they want, so it’s okay.”
Sinner considered walking away from tennis during doping controversy
https://arab.news/8bktw
Sinner considered walking away from tennis during doping controversy
- Sinner accepted a three-month ban in February after a settlement with the World Anti-Doping Agency
- “I didn’t feel comfortable and then I said, maybe after Australia, a little bit of free time, in the sense where I take a little break it will do me good,” he said
Inoue, Nakatani aim to set up a showdown in Riyadh’s ‘Night of the Samurai’
TOKYO: Japanese boxing will be center-stage in Saudi Arabia on Dec. 27 when Riyadh hosts “The Ring V: Night of the Samurai,” with two undefeated champions – INOUE Naoya and NAKATANI Junto – likely to set up a Japanese blockbuster in 2026.
The Night of the Samurai will feature several Japanese boxers in world title fights, highlighted by the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, Inoue, who will face off against Mexico’s Alan Picasso, 25, for the 32-year-old Inoue’s unified super-bantamweight belts. Both fighters are undefeated. Inoue has won 31 fights with 27 knockouts, while Picasso has 32 victories and one draw with 17 knockouts.
Nakatani (310, 24 KOs), the unified bantamweight champion, will make his super bantamweight debut against Mexico’s Sebastian Hernandez Reyes (200, 18 KOs), a 24yearold rising star. A win by Nakatani is likely to set up a showdown with Inoue at the Tokyo Dome in May next year.
On the undercard, Willibaldo Garcia will face former world flyweight champion TERAJI Kenshiro for the IBF super-flyweight title; IMANAGA Taiga will meet Armando Martinez in a lightweight bout; and TSUTSUMI Reito will fight Leobardo Quintana in a super-featherweight bout.
The WBA super-featherweight world title fight between TSUTSUMI Hayato and champion Jazza Dickens was canceled because Tsutsumi suffered a facial fracture during a sparring session.
The boxing event is part of the Riyadh Season of cultural, entertainment and sporting events, which is part of the larger Saudi Seasons initiative in support of Saudi Vision 2030.
Saudi Arabia has placed itself at the forefront of boxing promotion in recent years, staging massive title fights and non-title fights such as Anthony Joshua vs. Andy Ruiz, Tyson Fury vs. former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou, Deontay Wilder against Zhilei Zhang, and Oleksandr Usyk vs.Joshua.
Turki Alalshikh, chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, has become the most visible boxing promoter in the world and is one of the most influential figures in boxing. The Night of the Samurai will enable him to make his mark in Japan, which has a strong boxing culture.
“Riyadh Season in Saudi Arabia is only going to grow in importance for boxing,” Inoue told Japanese media. The undefeated champion described Alalshikh as “a boxing fan who truly loves the sport.”
Inoue and Riyadh Season inked a $20 million sponsorship deal a year ago and the fight in Riyadh gives the promoter a massive boost in viewership in Japan.
“Fighting in Saudi Arabia for the first time is motivating for me,” Inoue was quoted as saying. “I’ll enter the fight with a fresh mindset. It’s a little different from fighting in Japan, and there are unknowns, but I’m excited.”
