Jannik Sinner is set to play his first competitive match in over three months at this year’s Italian Open, where he will face Mariano Navone in his opening match-up.
Sinner was banned from tennis for three months in February after testing positive for clostebol in 2024.
The world number one’s last match was the Australian Open final, where Sinner defeated Alexander Zverev to lift his third Grand Slam title.
Having served out his suspension, the Italian is now pursuing a 20th career title in his home country.
This is Sinner‘s sixth appearance at the Italian Open in Rome, with his best campaign coming in 2022, where he made it to the quarter-final before bowing out to Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Sinner’s coach has predicted a struggle in the player’s opening games in the Eternal City, and now Andre Agassi’s former coach has issued a warning for the returning star.
Andre Agassi’s former coach says Jannik Sinner has to be ‘careful’ in return at Italian Open
Speaking on Tennis Channel prior to Sinner’s return, Agassi’s former coach, Brad Gilbert, said: “If you are out through injury it’s probably easier. This is a much more difficult scenario to come back from because mentally, how do you keep practicing for this?”
“I think the whole goal is to get matches at Rome, Hamburg and then be ready for Paris and Wimbledon.
Those are the two most important. It’s not about what he does in Rome, but it’s how he peaks physically so that he is ready to play best of five in Paris.”
“I think that is the most important thing. They have to be careful when they come back that they don’t go too hard, you don’t want to get hurt. But I expect by Paris that he is going to be ready and he will be one of the top three favourites to win that tournament.”
The former player added: “On the ban I thought that whole thing was a joke. Any time any player has one billionth of something that is nothing and it should be just a warning like missing a drug test.”
Jannik Sinner’s dropped points during ban from tennis
Prior to Sinner’s ban, the three-time Grand Slam champion was on 11,830 points, 2,100 of which he has now lost.
Sinner dropped 500 points for missing the Qatar Open in Doha, because despite not playing the tournament in 2024, he played at the Rotterdam Open at the corresponding time, which he won.
His biggest hit came from missing the second leg of the sunshine double, dropping 1000 points he was scheduled to defend at the Miami Open, having been crowned champion last year.
| Tournament Missed | Points Lost |
|---|---|
| Qatar Open | 500 points |
| Indian Wells Open | 0 points |
| Miami Open | 1000 points |
| Monte-Carlo Masters | 400 points |
| Barcelona Open | 0 points |
| Madrid Open | 200 points |
| Total | 2100 points |
Sinner didn’t lose points for not appearing at the Barcelona Open, but had 600 points taken away altogether for missing two Masters 1000 tournaments in Monte-Carlo and Madrid.
Despite big hits to his ranking points, the Italian still sits at the very top of the ATP rankings and comes into the Italian Open as the number one seed.
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