JANNIK Sinner pronounced himself “very happy” after starting his bid for a consecutive hat-trick of Australian Open titles with a win.
Second seed Sinner did the holy thing and consoled tearful world No. 93 Hugo Gaston after his first-round opponent was forced to retire at the end of the second set 6-2 6-1 down with a wrist problem at the Australian Open.
I didn’t know exactly what was going to happen. So I still tried to enjoy it when you go out on the track, but you still have it in your head. It was difficult for me. I now experience the sport in a different way, which is relaxed, but I give it everything I have. It’s a balance of everything. Jannik Sinner
However, the empathetic Italian himself would probably only shed tears of joy at his form during the short time he was on court.
The 24-year-old’s mood was in stark contrast to how he entered Melbourne’s 2025 renewal, when he considered quitting the sport before retaining the championship.
He was awaiting the results of a World Anti-Doping Agency appeal against the findings of an independent tribunal that found he bore “no fault or negligence” for two positive tests for clostebol from March 2024. He faced a one, perhaps two-year doping ban.
Sinner, who was eventually given a three-month ban, was concerned about how other players felt about it, saying at the time: “When I arrived in Australia, it seemed like other players looked at me differently. For a moment I even thought about giving it all up.”
And he talked about those moments on the eve of the 2026 extension, saying, “I didn’t know exactly what was going to happen. So I still tried to enjoy it when you go out on the court, but you still have it in your head. It was hard for me.”
“I now experience the sport in a different way, which is relaxed, but I give it everything I have. It’s a balance of everything.”
And his new perspective combined with his renowned aggression were on display in his brief encounter with left-handed Frenchman Gaston, while he was aware that his opponent was struggling.
Sinner said: “I saw that he wasn’t serving at a very fast pace, especially in the second set.
“This is not the way you want to win the match. He is such a talented player, he has such an incredible touch and moves very well. I knew I had to play tennis at a high level and try to be as aggressive as possible, which I did, so I am very happy.”
“I’m happy to be here again, it’s a very special place for me. The atmosphere was great as always.”
It was Sinner’s first official match in nine weeks.
He said: “I felt very well prepared, we worked a lot physically and also on the pitch. The official matches are always very different, so I’m very happy with how I started.”
“It’s obviously a bit tense, but now it’s time to enjoy. All the hard work has been done and we’re practicing for moments like this, so I’m very happy to be here again.”
Sinner’s only worries against Gaston came in his opening match when he had to save three break points in his first appearance of the season after friendlies against Carlos Alcaraz and Felix Auger-Aliassime. Only Jack Crawford (1931-33), Roy Emerson (1963-67) and, in the Open era, rival Novak Djokovic (2011-13 and 2019-21) have won the Australian title three times in a row. Perhaps Sinner – who has had a duopoly with Alcaraz for the past six majors – is set to join the exclusive club.
Award-winning sports journalist Mike Donovan has been writing about tennis for more than 40 years, citing Andy Murray’s historic victory at Wimbledon in 2013, the first by a Briton in 77 years, as highlights, as well as covering a Davis Cup match in Bucharest shortly after the assassination of Romanian leader Nicolae Ceausescu, and electronically submitting reports on the 1990 US Open won by teenager Pete Sampras for the pioneering Today newspaper. He is also an author and has written several Tottenham Hotspur-related books, the latest being Danny Blanchflower: A Glorious Life: The Authorized 100th Anniversary Biography of a Global Football Icon, which will be published on Pitch in March. Blanchflower is a monumental figure in Spurs history and was voted World X1 Champion at the World Cup.
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