Breaking Jannik Sinner's Silence

After a series of questions, Jannik Sinner finally spoke at more length about his controversial decision to rehire fitness coach Umberto Ferrara.

MASON, Ohio — The biggest news Jannik Sinner has made since winning Wimbledon came off-court, when he announced on July 23rd that he had rehired fitness coach Umberto Ferrara.

Normally members of a players entourage do not garner much attention, but Ferrara’s return raised eyebrows around the tennis world because of the circumstances of his departure.

A refresher: after Sinner tested positive twice for the banned substance clostebol in March 2024, his defense was that Ferrara had purchased a medicinal spray, trofodermin, which contained the banned anabolic steroid, from a pharmacy in Bologna. The story continued that Ferrara then gave the spray to Giacomo Naldi, Sinner’s physiotherapist, to treat a cut on his finger, and that the substance was transmitted to Sinner when Naldi gave him massages with his bare hand.

Sinner’s positive test case was handled privately, and resulted in a finding of “no fault or negligence” on Sinner’s part. A few days after the ITIA published its report, Sinner fired both Naldi and Ferrara.

Sinner kept playing and winning, winning the U.S. Open, Shanghai, Six Kings, ATP Finals and Davis Cup in 2024, and then the 2025 Australian Open. But he ultimately did not escape scot-free: after WADA appealed Sinner’s maximally favorable initial verdict to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, he ultimately settled on a three-month ban which he served earlier this year.

Sinner Sidelined, But Spared the Worst

Because of how drastically Ferrara’s introduction of the clostebol into Sinner’s orbit had negatively impacted him, the news of his being welcomed back into the fold was greeted with considerable shock—including by his own fans—when Sinner announced it in a statement last month on his signature foxface letterhead.

“Jannik Sinner has reappointed Umberto Ferrara as his fitness coach with immediate effect. The decision has been made in alignment with Jannik’s management team as part of ongoing preparations for upcoming tournaments, including the Cincinnati Open and US Open. Umberto has played an important role in Jannik’s development to date, and his return reflects a renewed focus on continuity and performance at the highest level.”

Sinner had had a vacancy in his entourage since firing his fitness trainer, Marco Panichi, and physiotherapist, Ulises Badio, shortly before Wimbledon. But still, the decision to bring back Ferrara invited renewed scrutiny of a chapter of Sinner’s career which might’ve otherwise remained closed.

In his pre-tournament press conference at the Cincinnati Open (a few days before I arrived), Sinner completely avoided engaging with the topic at all when asked by a reporter: “Do you want to walk us through the decision to bring Ferrara back?”

Sinner did not “want” to do any such thing, he made clear: “Yeah, I think we said all everything in the statement, so I’m very happy to be here and play again tournament.”

Despite that completely unsatisfactory answer, Sinner had not received any other subsequent questions on this hot-button topic beyond that 12-second exchange, including during the rest of that pre-tournament press conference, in various interviews with rightsholder broadcasters like Tennis Channel, and in mixed zones after his second round and third round wins. (The ATP did not bring Sinner in to speak to the general press after his fourth round win).

So after his dominant 6-0, 6-2 quarterfinal win over Felix Auger-Aliassime on Friday, in order to fill what I felt like was a pretty huge journalistic shortcoming around the top-ranked player in the world, I wanted to make sure to broach the topic of Ferrara anew with Sinner, this time with a differently angled approach with which he might be more likely to engage.

Jannik Sinner at the Cincinnati Open (Photo via Cincinnati Open)

Sinner clearly was not thrilled to discuss the topic, but he said much more about Ferrara in answering my question (and my three follow-ups) than he has previously on the topic.

To read my exchange with Sinner, and to support asking all-too-rare difficult questions in tennis, please subscribe to Bounces. -Ben