Top 5 Best Quotes of 2024, No. 3: At the US Open, Jannik Sinner looks to have the last word in anti-doping case

I’m just a simple tennis player.

2024 was a tale of two seasons for Jannik Sinner, who enjoyed the best of times on court with two major titles and rise to world No. 1 and the worst of times as he found himself up against a harrowing anti-doping case.

The Italian quietly tested positive for the banned substance clostebol, news that only broke after the International Tennis Integrity Association (ITIA) found he bore No Fault or Negligence for his coming into contact with the substance. Sinner avoided serving a provisional suspension by presenting evidence that he only came into contact with clostebol vis à vis a massage from physiotherapist Luca Naldi, who had applied an anti-septic spray containing the substance to treat and injured finger.

As the tennis world came to grips with the confusing story, the 23-year-old sought to offer clarification ahead of the 2024 US Open, answering all questions lobbed at him at his pre-tournament Media Day press conference

Every player who gets tested positive has to go through the same process,” he said. “There is no shortcut, there is no different treatment. Jannik Sinner

“Every player who gets tested positive has to go through the same process,” he said. “There is no shortcut, there is no different treatment.”

Sinner played for months as he waited for the ITIA to complete their investigation and reflected on the anxiety that haunted him throughout the summer swing with an unintentionally comedic turn of phrase.

“It was a long process,” Sinner recalled. “I was always concerned that it might come out at some point. In the beginning was a different view, but then after, you know, it was a little bit more complicated.

“I went through, like, me and my team and the lawyers, I'm just a simple tennis player, no? That's what I love to do.”

With help from a forthcoming team and strong legal representation, Sinner thought he was out of the woods only to learn that the World Anti-Doping would appeal his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), with the final results to come before the 2025 Australian Open.

“I have nothing to hide,” he said in a statement in September, “and as I have done throughout the summer, I will cooperate fully with the appeal process and provide whatever may be needed to prove my innocence once again.”