Jannik Sinner vs Mariano Navone LIVE: World No 1 returns at Italian Open

Jannik Sinner revealed he received some “surprising messages” from fellow players during his three-month doping ban, with the World No 1 also admitting he was surprised by the players who did not reach out.

“At the start of the suspension I received some surprising messages from some players,” Sinner said ahead of his return at the Italian Open.

“Whereas there were others who I would have expected to hear from that didn’t send anything. But I’m not going to name names.”

Jannik Sinner has not played since winning the Australian Open in January for his third grand slam title after the Italian reached a resolution agreement with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

WADA were initially pushing for a ban of between one and two years at the Court of Arbitration for Sport after he twice tested positive for a banned substance in March last year. However, Sinner reached a settlement of three months, with a senior WADA figure insisting the World No 1’s case was a “million miles away from doping”.

While Sinner admitted “partial responsibility” for the mistakes made by his team that led to him twice positive for traces of clostebol, WADA withdrew its appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) that asked for a ban of up to two years following the initial decision by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) not to suspend him.

Jannik Sinner is on a 21-match winning run, with his last defeat coming to Carlos Alcaraz in the China Open final last season.

Should Sinner progress past Navone, he could potentially face Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the third round and Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo in round four. Cerundolo defeated Sinner at the Italian Open in 2023.

His projected quarter-final opponent is Madrid Open champion and two-time French Open runner-up Casper Ruud while Sinner is in a different half of the draw to Alcaraz, who is seeded third, behind World No 2 Alexander Zverev.

The Italian Open has confirmed that Jannik Sinner will play his first match of the tournament on Saturday May 10, taking to the court at around 7pm local time (6pm UK time) on Centre Court.

Good afternoon and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of Jannik Sinner’s return to action at the Italian Open.

The World No 1 has not played since winning the Australian Open in January after being hit with a three-month doping ban – but gets back on the court tonight in front of a home crowd in Rome.

After receiving Sinner a bye to the second round as top seed, he will be welcomed back by Argentine player Mariano Navone in his opening match of the tournament, who beat Sinner’s countryman Federico Cina in straight sets in the first round.

Stay tuned for all the build-up and action from Sinner’s tennis return.