Jannik Sinner Responds to Doping Allegations | Tennis Channel Live

tested positive for a banned substance of course will not be suspended this was two different tests that came back positive in March got it through exposure through a full body massage from his physio the Ia said there was quote no fault or negligence on the part of yanic cner and the penalty was 400 ranking points $325,000 that he earned by making the semi-finals at Indian Wells let's go inside the Press Room and hear from Yanik CER himself it's uh um not ideal before a grand slam um but you know in uh in my mind I know that I that I haven't done anything wrong um I had to play already months with with this in my in my head but you know just remembering myself that I haven't done really really anything wrong I I always respected this rules and I will and I always will respect this uh these rules of of funti dopping so um um yeah it's just obviously a relief for myself um you know having having this result we've been talking about this story since Tuesday John and credit to yanic the US Open tried to cut off that line of questioning he took all the questions about this subject answered all of them uh what seemed to be quite honestly what's your overall reaction yeah I I was in that press conference I'm glad you brought that up because uh they they tried to cut off questioning and yanic CER seemed as eager as anyone to discuss it and basically say you know Bring it on I want to give my side of the story I you know the facts aren't really in dispute and I think that's one thing that we should remember and maybe separates this from other cases I mean I think I think it's pretty clear objectively what happened I think the question is more about the process and the punishment and we should add that he has fired the the trainer and the physio that were involved in this in this carelessness um should it have taken five months is I think a fair point should this have been kept under wraps for five months when it hasn't been the case with others Novak jokovic talked about it today and I think where everybody seems to be is look I I don't think there there's guilt I mean obviously there there's no fault or negligence but negligence is not usually the standard usually it's Hey listen something was in your body you are responsible for it you're the CEO of your body um but I I I think the the issue here is much more with the process than did yanic sinner dope which I think the answer pretty clearly is no so I I think let's separate facts and process I think I think it's the process that a lot of people are uncomfortable with you got to spend time with Yanik uh in Cincinnati went on to to win the title there despite all of this he knew what was going to come out what did you notice about him it was it's very interesting that this came out right after Cincinnati throughout the whole week he he seemed a little bit more down a little bit more subdued than he normally is uh even on his birthday uh Danny and I who are on the TC desk wished him happy birthday and sort of asked him after when we were off camera um you know how you doing you celebrate the said he's no you know I'm just going to kind of take it a little lowkey and you could just see on and off camera he was a bit more subdued even when he came for the finals interview first question I said maybe he's won the title you know why why you so serious and he's I'm just locked in you know still in the match and now it sort of all tracks all makes sense this is a lot to play with over five months and he is one of the cleanest guys out there everybody loves him he is such a class act from the minute he first came on as a 18-year-old all the way to now he's always carried himself with such integrity and the way he speaks and such a fan of him but it's not easy to be able to do that having said that the fact that he won Cincinnati and he beats verev in that unbelievable match he played great against TFO all of that said and done it shows even at this young age you can compartmentalize and perhaps that's something that he will need to do during this event also yeah it really speaks to his mental resilience been able to win that title desp despite all of this swirling on in his head knowing that it was going to come out let's take a look at the draw for the tops SE to enters the US Open as the world number one and a major Champion for the very first time in his career starts out with American Macky McDonald could potentially get Alex mikkelson who we just saw in that final in Winston Salem does not get any easier after that John what do you make of it yeah I me part of this is about the players he faces he's in the the alcaraz half so Novak does uh no Novak got the nice draw here but I I think a lot of this is just going to be how is he dealing with this new set of circumstances and some of this is about the names on the draw on the player I mean certainly based on if this were in a vacuum he can't complain about his draw pretty good not withstanding being on the us half but I think a lot of this is how will he address this sort of very strange set of circumstances that he has not had to confront before and I think that really is is the biggest mystery be beyond what what the draw served up New York fans are not subtle Pros how do you think they're going to react to yic Center it'll be interesting it's kind of this this process as John is talking about and more more the the consistency just having every player treated the same regardless of how it ends up going down um judging that versus Yan's reputation I I don't know a single place where Yanik isn't cheered he's cheered for absolutely everywhere he goes and this is a pretty detailed situation and I'm not sure everyone is going to know the intricacies of it bottom line he has been cleared of any wrongdoing he hasn't been suspended for anything and that's what I think the majority of the public will take away so you know you weigh that against the fact that he is generally very well- loved I think he's going to get all love he is cheered everywhere he goes John but he is playing potentially two Americans in the first two round US Open they love their Americans yeah I mean I think I think New York tennis fans also tend to be fairly knowledgeable and I think you know you see a headline and doping is in it and that the heckling you you can make it that with but I think you you look at the case and you look at the figure we're talking about I think reputations matter like Bros says and I think people that have looked at this and looked at the set of circumstances it's unfortunate it's not what anybody wants to be talking about on the eve of uh on the eve of this event but this is not your classic doping case this is really just carelessness by two members of his team who are not members of his team anymore so I I don't think he's going to be Jered and heckled by by New York crowds but it's a distraction playing Americans are a distraction and I think yanic CER we're going to learn a lot about him because this is uh you know I I think we're talking about this with Andy Rock there there's some players and you sort of know how they would confront adverse news like this right I mean they would either lean into it or they would this is not somebody that we have a lot of perspective with in this sense and I'm not sure he does either so I I think his the way he reacts to this responds to this and deals with it I I think is really going to be uh a bit of a wind into who Yanik siner is because um he's a great tennis player we know that we don't necessarily know a lot about him personally and this is not how he wants to begin a major as the number one seed but this is this is the hand he's in a sense Del himself one of the