Daniil Medvedev Sounds Cautious Alarm on Jannik Sinner’s Form Ahead of Italian’s Return to the Tour from Doping Suspension

With anyone else, I think I would look at it and think, ‘Oh, I wonder if the first match and the second match are going to be really tough.’ With Jannik, it’s not the case. He’s proven that he’s like that over the last six months. For the last year, but especially in the last six months, every tournament he plays, he’s been doing really well. That’s why I think all the players have the feeling that he’s going to perform well. But life’s not that easy, so we’ll see, it’ll be interesting.

Daniil Medvedev said in an interview to Championat

Medvedev and Sinner have played the most matches against each other in the 2024 season. The duo met six times, with Sinner winning five of those encounters. Three of their matches came in Grand Slams, including the Australian Open final. Medvedev’s only win came in the 2024 Wimbledon quarterfinals.

Jannik Sinner could be handed an interesting opening round at the Italian Open

Top seed Jannik Sinner is set to return at the Italian Open after serving a three-month doping suspension. In the second round, he may face fellow Italian Federico Cina, depending on the result of Cina’s match against Mariano Navone from Argentina.

Sinner was suspended after testing positive twice for clostebol, a banned substance. However, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) ruled that he didn’t gain any unfair advantage and that the contamination was accidental. He last played at the Australian Open, where he defended his title.

The 23-year-old will not meet rival Carlos Alcaraz until the final, should both make it that far. In the quarter-finals, Sinner could come up against world number seven Casper Ruud, who recently won the Madrid Open.

Alcaraz pulled out of the Madrid event due to injury and has not yet reached Rome. If fit, he might meet Britain’s Jack Draper in the quarter-finals — Draper lost to Ruud in the Madrid final.

Players who earned most points during Jannik Sinner’s ban

World No.1 Jannik Sinner is back in action after serving a three-month suspension. While he was out, his closest rivals failed to take full advantage of his absence. At the start of his ban in February, Sinner led the ATP rankings with 11,830 points. Alexander Zverev had 8,135, and Carlos Alcaraz was on 7,510. To overtake him, Zverev needed 2,495 points, and Alcaraz had to make up 3,721.

Carlos Alcaraz struggled to gain ground. He earned 400 points for a semi-final finish at Indian Wells but was knocked out early in Miami, gaining only 10 points. He made up for it with a big win in Monte Carlo, collecting 1,000 points. Alcaraz also added 100 in Doha and 330 in Barcelona but missed Madrid due to injury.

Meanwhile, Jack Draper surprised everyone by earning the most points during Sinner’s break. He reached the final in Doha for 330 points and won his first Masters 1000 title in Indian Wells. Although he only gained 10 points in Miami, he followed up with 100 in Monte Carlo and 600 points as runner-up in Madrid.

Francisco Cerundolo also had a solid run. He gathered points steadily across several events, including 165 in Buenos Aires, 200 each in Indian Wells, Miami, and Munich, and 400 in Madrid. He didn’t win any major titles but showed strong consistency with multiple deep runs in tournaments.