After three months of stasis and a week of hysteria here in Rome, Jannik Sinner returned to the tennis court at last.
In his first match since winning the Australian Open, the first since his lawyers agreed such a conveniently-timed suspension for two failed doping tests, the world No 1 beat Argentina’s Mariano Navone 6-3, 6-4.
‘It was an amazing feeling to be back,’ he said. ‘I’ve waited a long time for this moment. The result doesn’t matter. It has been a remarkable day for me.’
The Foro Italico was drowning in carrots on Saturday. Carrot hats, carrot t-shirts, even a man dressed as a carrot.
Sinner’s ‘carrot top’ red hair – so unusual in Italy – has been adopted by his fans as the symbol and colour of their devotion and orange flooded the stands of the Campo Centrale.
One Italian journalist I spoke to described Sinner’s following as ‘a religion’ and there have been strange parallels between his return and the election of a new Pope just 3km to the south.
Jannik Sinner made a victorious return at the Italian Open after his three-month doping ban
Home hero Sinner beat Argentina’s Mariano Navone 6-3, 6-4 in the round of 64 in Rome
Spectators dressed up as carrots and sported orange clothing to show support for Sinner
As the faithful crammed into St Peter’s Square, so a different brand of pilgrim descended on the Foro Italico.
Sinner arrived on site around lunchtime and was driven through a sea of fans in a buggy – it looked like a Pontiff’s public appearance in his Pope mobile.
He practiced on Court 5, which has one public stand and is ringed on the other sides by the balconies of corporate hospitality – there was only one man the highrollers had come to see.
Fans swarmed around the public stand, stacking five deep and holding cameraphones above heads, taking blind snaps in the hope of capturing Sinner’s holy image.
It was quite extraordinary: there were plenty of seats elsewhere with an excellent view of world class tennis but instead these people stood on tiptoe and craned their necks to catch sight of a flash of ginger, a fraction of a forehand, an inch of freckled cheek.
We are awaiting official confirmation of the attendance but the Foro Italico was heaving, with food stalls completely overwhelmed.
It appears Sinner’s legend in his home country has been enhanced, rather than diminished, by his three-month doping ban.
Not that he ought to have been greeted by rotten tomatoes. Both the tennis authorities who cleared him completely and World Anti-Doping, who appealed seeking a ban, have made clear their belief that Sinner had zero intention to dope, and zero knowledge of the clostebol entering his system.
One Italian journalist Mail Sport spoke to described Sinner’s following as ‘a religion’
A hero’s welcome was never in doubt; how he would perform was less certain
Three months of inaction is no joke for an athlete who is used to competing almost every week
But the case has nonetheless been hugely controversial. Novak Djokovic claimed to represent the majority view of the locker room when he opined that Sinner had received preferential treatment.
Here in Italy the view is the opposite: they believe WADA would not have bothered intervening in the case of a lower-profile player.
‘He’s a saint,’ says the local journalist, with an expressive shrug, when I ask how the doping ban is viewed in Italy. If that sounds like exaggeration, one fan’s shirt read: ‘Lord forgive me, the Sinner is back,’ with the world No 1’s head photoshopped on to a renaissance image of a Saint, halo and all.
After all this, there was tennis to play. The antipasti was Matteo Berrettini, a beloved son of Rome, against Britain’s Jacob Fearnley. A tense 6-4, 7-6 win for the Italian – in which Fearnley led 5-2 in the second set before fading physically – got the local fans going.
And now for Sinner. A hero’s welcome was never in doubt; how he would perform was less certain.
Three months of inaction is no joke for an athlete who is used to competing almost every week. And for the first two months of his ban, Sinner was forbidden to practice with fellow professionals.
Navone may be the world No 99 but he is an out-and-out clay court specialist and well capable of exposing any rust. Sinner made a few more errors than usual and the second set was tighter than it should have been, but on this evidence his best level is not too far away.
And when that point is reached, those three months spent recharging while his rivals slugged it out may start to feel like a blessing in disguise.
Sinner showed signs of rust but on his evidence, his best level is not too far away
It appears Sinner’s legend in his home country has been enhanced by his suspension
‘I feel like we prepared ourselves in the best possible way,’ said Sinner. ‘Of course, I was missing the feedback of official matches, which is the best feedback a player can get. At least now I have a bigger picture of what I’m doing well and what I have to improve.
‘Hopefully I can play one or two matches more here to see where I am at, which would be my main goal. Then all the rest is just a positive.
‘It was a great start of this tournament and of the comeback. Let’s see what’s coming.’
