Jannik Sinner in steamroller format gets off to a flying start in the Six Kings Slamexhibition tournament scheduled until Saturday Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. In the first match of the day, the 23-year-old from Sesto Pusteria, world number one, beat the Russian Daniil Medvedev, number 5 in the world ranking, in two sets, 6-0, 6-3, and today, in the semifinals, he will face Novak Djokovic.
Jannik Sinner 10/16/24 (AFP)
The break at the opening of the match
Just to make things clear immediately, the Italian opened the match with a break and thanks to the Russian’s many errors he quickly reached 4-0. Medvedev first gave his rival 5-0 with two double faults, then wasted a break point in the sixth and thus lost the set to zero. In the second match, Sinner wins the break in the fifth game and from 3-2, also taking advantage of an increasingly foul and nervous Russian, he completed the job until the final 6-3.
Followed by the second quarter-final, the match between Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune (the Dane is the only one among the protagonists who has not yet won a Slam): the match will designate the semifinal opponent of Rafa Nadal, who has already announced his retirement at the end of the season after the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga
Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev 10/16/24 (AFP)
Whatever happens on the fast track of ‘The Venue’ – where the six participants compete for a very rich prize pool: 13.5 million dollars (about 12.4 million in euros), of which almost half are six (six, 5.5 in euros) intended only for the winner -, in a press conference on the eve of his test, Rafa Nadal paid homage to the future dominators of the scene, Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz. “There are many strong young players who are playing very well – said the Majorcan champion -, Carlos and Jannik, in particular, are winning Slams and Masters and are building incredible numbers. I wish them all the best as they continue to move forward, they will be the stars of the future if they can stay intact and have an amazing career.”
The shadow of the doping issue
Even if on the pitch the Italian does not seem to be affected too much, the doping issue continues to hover over him, after Wada’s decision to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAS) against the acquittal for the ‘Clostebol case’ decided by International tennis integrity agency (Itia), accepting the thesis of involuntary contamination.
And yesterday the Tas made known the reasons for the sentence relating to another tennis player, the Romanian Simona Halep, sentenced in August 2022 to four years to nine months for testing positive for the banned drug Roxadustat.
The former world no.1 appealed to the CAS, which last March reduced the sentence to nine months, allowing her to return to play. In the reasoning, the Lausanne judges, while accepting the theory of unconscious hiring, ask themselves “why in such a highly professional environment questions linked to possible anti-doping problems are entrusted to people who have no experience in this sector”, underlining “the careless use of a contaminated supplement”, taken by the Romanian under the advice of her personal physiotherapist “who is not a doctor or clinician”.
A case of negligence, which was in fact sanctioned albeit lightly, completely different from that of Sinnerfound positive for a substance contained in a drug by his physiotherapist to treat a cut on his finger, with the tennis player completely unaware.
