Jannik Sinner faces ‘decisive few days’ in bid to be fit for French Open as he turns to Juventus medical centre
Jannik Sinner looking pensive
Jannik Sinner is relying on football powerhouse Juventus’ famed medical centre to help with his recovery from injury ahead of the French Open.
Reigning Australian Open champion Sinner is struggling with a hip injury as he was forced to withdraw from his Madrid Open quarter-final clash against Felix Auger-Aliassime last week.
It was initially thought that the injury was just a niggle, but he has since also pulled out of the Italian Open and raised major doubts about his participation at Roland Garros, which gets underway on May 26.
“If a longer period of rest is needed, I will observe it,” he told Italian media after confirming his withdrawal from the ATP Masters 1000 event. “I will only go to Paris if I am one hundred per cent physically because I don’t want to shorten my career just to do one more tournament.”
Sinner has just over a fortnight to regain full fitness for the clay-court Grand Slam and he has decided to seek help from Serie A giants Juventus’ famous J|Medical with the medical centre boasting “a state-of-the-art healthcare model offering a wide range of services, from diagnosis to specialist medical treatment, rehabilitation and sports medicine”.
The facility at the Allianz Stadium in Turin has in the past helped Sinner’s fellow Italian Matteo Berrettini as well as Portugal captain and former Juventus player Cristiano Ronaldo.
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According to Gazzetta dello Sport, “the next few days will be decisive as to whether the world No 2 will decide to leave for Paris. If the treatment has the desired effect, Sinner might decide to fly to France in a couple of weeks and give it a try”.
The Italian publication adds that the 22-year-old’s “hip injury requires rehabilitation in water, so as not to overload the joint, and a gym to do the exercises and keep fit”.
Sinner has enjoyed a remarkable 2024 season as he is 28-2 this year, having won his maiden Grand Slam at the Australian Open before following it up with titles at the Rotterdam Open and the Miami Open.
He rose to a career-high No 2 in the ATP Rankings on the back of those results and had an opportunity to overtake Novak Djokovic at No 1 in Rome this week, but his withdrawal from the last-eight in Madrid and the Italian Open has robbed him of that chance.