Jan 24, 2025; Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; Jannik Sinner of Italy receives treatment during his match against Ben Shelton of United States of America in the semifinals of the men's singles at the 2025 Australian Open at Melbourne Park.

tennis

Jannik Sinner Makes Shocking Admission Over Walking Away From Tennis Before Australian Open 2025 Glory

Sinner has been out of action for 3 months.

With the 2025 Rome Masters approaching, there is one big talking point – the imminent return of World No. 1 Jannik Sinner. The Italian sensation has been serving a temporary suspension since February, and is set to make a comeback on home turf before travelling to Paris for Roland Garros. Sinner was a semifinalist at the clay court major last year when he came up short against Carlos Alcaraz.

Winning both the hard court Grand Slam titles last year, Jannik Sinner came into the 2025 Australian Open carrying a huge weight on his shoulders. Yet, the 23-year-old brushed aside the competition in a manner that has seldom been seen before. He dominated Alexander Zverev to retain the trophy in Melbourne Park. However, Sinner has now admitted to entering a dark phase right during his gigantic success.

Jannik Sinner Wanted to ‘Take a Little Break’ Before Australian Open

On 15 February 2025, WADA announced that the agency reached a settlement with the World No. 1 for a 90-day suspension from professional tennis. The decision arrived just weeks after Sinner’s magnificent championship victory – resulting in huge outbursts within the tennis world. In a recent interview with RAI, Sinner revealed that he wanted to quit the sport right before he reached a potential all-time high in his young career.

Jannik Sinner felt players 'looked at me differently' at the Australian Open during his doping case.#BBCTennis pic.twitter.com/WjkQhb1aic
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) April 30, 2025

“Before the Australian Open, I wasn’t in a very happy moment because there was the doping case,” he said. “I didn’t feel comfortable in the locker room [or] where I ate. It was a bit like some players looked at me differently and I didn’t like it… 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.”

Jannik Sinner’s Flawless Run at the 2025 Australian Open

Before his ban, Jannik Sinner made a strong start to the season by winning the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup for a second consecutive time. The feisty baseliner dropped just two sets en route to raising the trophy over his head. In the opening round, Sinner came up against a tricky opponent in the form of Nicolas Jarry. After withstanding a barrage of winners from his Chilean counterpart, the top seed escaped with a straight sets win.

Sinner’s two dropped sets came in Round-2 and Round-4, when Tristan Schoolkate and Holger Rune managed to outwit the two-time Davis Cup champion. Nonetheless, Sinner reached the quarterfinals relatively unscathed. He then dominated Alex de Minaur and Ben Shelton to enter another Australian Open men’s singles summit clash. On a collision course with No. 2 seed Alexander Zverev, the Italian ran riot 6-3 7-6(4) 6-3 for the title win.

Jannik Sinner is set to be eligible to compete on the ATP circuit from May 5.

ATP

Australian Open

Carlos Alcaraz

Jannik Sinner

Tennis

Sankalp Harikrishnan

A passionate sports fan through and through, I am currently pursuing my MA in Global Sports Journalism. I specialise in tennis and football writing at The Playoffs News, and I have prior experience working at EssentiallySports and Sportskeeda. Born and raised in Bengaluru, India, sport was my safe space right from my childhood. After trying my hand at multiple sports and representing my educational institutions in cricket, badminton and table tennis, I found sports media to be my calling.