The 21-year-old Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, in a training session, made fun of his friend and rival Jannik Sinner, also to try to defuse the heated atmosphere that surrounded the young Italian after the news about the doping issue came out last August 20th.
Alcaraz, engaged in some exchanges with his 24-year-old brother Alvaro, turned to Sinner, who was training at the same time on the next court, exclaiming: “Watch out Jannik, this one serves better than you!”
The Italian responded with a smile, exchanging a few words and resuming his training session.
But, anyway – as I said above – it is a rather difficult moment in Sinner’s career, certainly the most difficult since he joined the ATP Tour. The case of his positive Clostebol and the failure of the Itia to disqualify him has received mixed comments from commentators, insiders and colleagues on the Tour.
Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz have also expressed some doubts about the ATP’s handling of the case, but without going too far. The Italian tennis player, in a recent interview, given the storm that has broken out on the issue, had declared:
“Clearly this news can change something but anyone who knows me well knows that I would never do something against the rules. It remains a very difficult time for me and my team. Here I also understand who my friends are and who is not,” taking a swipe at those who had questioned his integrity regarding the case.
Many tennis players, like Nole, have not cast too many doubts on Jnanik’s innocence, but have rather underlined the evident disparity of treatment that has emerged compared to other similar cases, also due to the fact that many lower-ranked tennis players cannot afford the law firms used by Jannik for the issue.