Jannik Sinner says it “means so much” to win the US Open after a “very difficult” period following the controversy over his positive tests for a banned substance.
The world number one stormed past American Taylor Fritz in Sunday’s final to claim his second Grand Slam of the year.
It was revealed six days before the tournament began that Sinner had been cleared of any wrongdoing after twice testing positive for low levels of a metabolite of clostebol – a steroid that can be used to build muscle mass – in March.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) ruled the Italian was inadvertently contaminated with the substance by Giacomo Naldi, his physiotherapist.
“This title means so much because the last period of my career was not easy,” the 23-year-old said.
“It [the investigation] was and still is on my mind. It’s not that it’s gone, but when I’m on court, I try to handle the situation the best possible way.
“I’m happy how I handled this one. I’m just excited to have this trophy with me.”
Sinner subsequently parted ways with the physio and his fitness trainer – but questions remained about whether Sinner’s case had been handled differently to those of other players because of his status as world number one.
Sinner added he felt “more pressure” in New York than he did when he won his maiden Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January.
“Here it was difficult because also the pre-tournament circumstances weren’t easy,” Sinner said.
“I felt like that I have grown, you know, match by match and that my confidence level went higher and higher at some point.”
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