Jannik Sinner on his comeback: “It won’t be easy”

Jannik Sinner has admitted he doesn’t expect it to be easy when he returns to competitive tennis next month. The world No. 1 is into the last few weeks of his WADA suspension and is now permitted to train on Italian Tennis Federation-affiliated courts.

At a Sports Gala in his native South Tyrol last week, Sinner told local broadcaster ORF Südtirol how he has been preparing for his comeback.

“Now that we have less than a month to go, we're training very, very hard,” he explained.

“Hopefully we'll get some momentum going again ahead of the clay season. It certainly won't be easy for me.”

Read more: Jannik Sinner's doping case: A complete timeline of how it unfolded, on and off the court

His first tournament back will be his home Masters event in Rome, where he will be among the favorites to lift the trophy, even if he doesn’t see it quite that way.

“The first games will be really difficult,” he admitted. “But hopefully I'll be able to get back into the rhythm and then we'll see how it goes.”

The Italian hasn’t played a tennis match since beating Alexander Zverev to defend his Australian Open title in January. The terms of his settlement with WADA meant he was not even allowed to train with his team or any other registered players until April 13.

“I think at the beginning of the three months, it was quite nice,” Sinner reflected.

A bit of time away from all the grind, I spent time with family, with friends. I was doing new things and getting to know myself better, finding out where I stand. I think it helped me a lot.

In Sinner’s absence, his closest rivals for the tour's top spot were unable to take advantage. Both Zverev and Carlos Alcaraz suffered dips in form which prevented them from overtaking the Italian in the rankings.

Read more: ATP players embracing the most wide open clay season in 20 years

It means Sinner will achieve a rare milestone on his return: one of only a few players to have remained world No. 1 for 52 consecutive weeks. He is now mathematically certain to remain No. 1 through end of Roland Garros, 12 months after he first claimed top spot.

With Alcaraz having withdrawn from Madrid through injury and Zverev needing to defend the 1,000 points he earned as champion in Rome last year, neither can catch Sinner before 2025’s second Grand Slam is over.