Sinner wins in return from doping ban before home crowd at Italian Open

By Canadian Press on May 10, 2025.

ROME (AP) — Top-ranked Jannik Sinner made a solid return from his three-month doping ban in beating 99th-ranked Mariano Navone 6-3, 6-4 before an adoring home crowd at the Italian Open on Saturday.

It was Sinner’s first match in more than 100 days, since he won his third Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January.

There weren’t too many signs of rust and it didn’t take long for Sinner to start crushing his groundstrokes on or near the lines. When the Italian broke for 3-1 in the first set, the crowd inside Campo Centrale sang “Ole, ole, ole, Sin-ner, Sin-ner.”

Many fans in the soldout crowd of 10,500 were dressed in orange, Sinner’s theme color. And there were plenty of signs that said “Bentornato Jannik” (“Welcome back Jannik”).

The victory extended Sinner’s winning streak to 22 matches, dating to October.

In February, Sinner agreed to the three-month ban in a settlement with the World Anti-Doping Agency that raised some questions, since it conveniently allowed him not to miss any Grand Slams and come back at his home tournament.

The settlement was made after WADA appealed a decision last year by the International Tennis Integrity Agency to fully exonerate Sinner for what it deemed to be an accidental contamination by a banned anabolic steroid in March 2024.

Many fellow pros feel Sinner was treated too lightly.

But the crowd at the Foro Italico night session was fully behind Sinner, who has remained Italy’s most popular athlete despite his suspension.

When Sinner unleashed a backhand approach winner up the line early in the first set — the game in which he eventually broke Navone’s serve — one Sinner fan yelled, “Destroy him.”

Another sign in the crowd translated to “Make our hearts beat.” One more referred to this week’s election of a new pope just down the road at the Vatican, joking that “After three months of conclave, Habemus Papam!” — using the Latin words that are announced from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica when a pope is elected.

Sinner’s only real lapse came late in the second set when he failed to consolidate a break and dropped his serve. But he broke again in the next game and then served out.

The last Italian man to win the Rome title was Adriano Panatta in 1976.

Sinner will next face Dutch qualifier Jesper De Jong, who beat 25th-seeded Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-0, 6-2.

Swiatek loses to Collins

In the women’s tournament, three-time champion Iga Swiatek was beaten by Danielle Collins 6-1, 7-5. The third-round loss marked Swiatek’s earliest defeat at a big WTA event in nearly four years.

Swiatek, the top clay-court player on the women’s tour, was coming off a lopsided loss to Coco Gauff in the Madrid Open semifinals last week. She has 15 days to rediscover her form before the French Open starts on May 25.

Swiatek has won four of her five Grand Slam titles at Roland Garros. ___

AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis

Andrew Dampf, The Associated Press