Tennis: World number one Jannik Sinner plays down split with trainer and physio ahead of Wimbledon

RNZ News

2 days ago

Italy's Jannik Sinner, after he lost the men's singles final match against Spain's Carlos Alcaraz at the 2025 French Open in Paris on June 8, 2025.
Photo:
AFP / Thibaud Moritz
Parting company with two of your team days before Wimbledon might not sound ideal, but world number one Jannik Sinner has played down any negative impact as he prepares for the grass-court Grand Slam.
The 23-year-old Italian surprisingly split with Marco Panichi and Ulises Badio, his trainer and physiotherapist respectively, after the Halle tournament and was asked about the situation in his pre-tournament media conference.
"Nothing major happened. Nothing big happened. I parted ways not long ago but it's not affecting me. I feel ready to compete. I feel free. I feel me and my team, we are ready to do the best we can," Sinner, who is bidding to win his first Wimbledon title, told reporters.
"We've reached incredible results in the past with them, so obviously huge thanks to them. We made some great job, but I decided to do something different."
Panichi and Badio had been part of Sinner's team since September 2024 and helped him to win this year's Australian Open to take his career Grand Slam haul to three. He also reached the French Open final this month but lost a thriller to Carlos Alcaraz.
"Look, in this sport things can happen. Sometimes a player feels something different, and that's my case."
Sinner suffered a crushing disappointment at Roland Garros where he lost to Alcaraz having led by two sets.
He won one match at Halle before losing to Alexander Bublik, but said he was mentally prepared for Wimbledon where he hopes to become the first Italian singles champion.
"Honestly, I feel ready to play. I feel ready. We are practising very well. What happened in the past is in the past already," said Sinner, who faces fellow Italian Luca Nardi in the first round.
"I feel good. Especially mentally I feel in a very good spot. Halle was a little bit different. Now it's gone and I see also the reactions of other players and people, they talked the level (of the French Open final) was very high.
"I feel like that I'm playing great, great tennis on grass. Hopefully I can show this also in the match court."
Sinner served a three-month suspension earlier this year after agreeing a settlement with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in February after authorities accepted that the anabolic agent clostebol had entered his system inadvertently via massages from his former physio Giacomo Naldi at Indian Wells in March 2024.
During his time away he explored some new talents, recording a single with Italian opera great Andrea Bocelli in which he speaks his lines.
While he will not be giving up the day job, Sinner said it had been great to do something completely different.
"I felt like especially in these three months where I couldn't play, it was the right timing to do also the video together and everything," he said.
"Obviously he's an incredible artist. Just being part of this for me was amazing. It was a big, big work, a work in progress. I think we are all very happy how it came out."
- Reuters