NEW YORK (AP) — If there were any boos directed at Jannik Sinner at the U.S. Open, they were barely audible amid the polite applause from the sparse crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium as he was introduced Tuesday before the world No. 1-ranked man’s first match since his doping case surfaced a week ago.
After a sloppy and slow opening set, Sinner pulled away with a 2-6, 6-2, 6-1, 6-2 win over Mackie McDonald of the USA to reach the second round at Flushing Meadows.
There were no visible signs or derogatory shouts in the stands about what no one knew for months: Sinner had tested positive for traces of the anabolic steroid clostebol twice within eight days in March.
None of this was made public until last week, when news broke that the 23-year-old Italian had been stripped of prize money and ranking points for the tournament where the first result appeared. However, he escaped a ban because it was ruled that he was not at fault and that the drug had entered his system inadvertently during a massage by his physiotherapist.
In his first public comments on the matter, Sinner said at a pre-tournament press conference on Friday that he had fired the fitness coach who bought an over-the-counter spray containing clostebol in Italy, as well as the physiotherapist who used the spray on a cut on his finger before treating the player and transferring the substance to his body.
During a brief on-court interview at Ashe, Sinner was not asked about the case, which has drawn criticism from other players, including Novak Djokovic, over the way it was handled and raised questions about whether certain athletes are treated differently than others when determining doping penalties.
But as an indication of how the crowd treated him, Sinner made the following observation: “The support is always great, so I thank everyone for coming and staying.”
Against McDonald, a 140th-ranked American who slipped to 4-13 in 2024, Sinner was way off the mark from the start. He double-faulted. He hit what should have been an easy smash into the net. He botched volleys. In total, he made 14 unforced errors in the first set, helping McDonald to five games in a row at 2-2 to win the set and earn a break in the second.
“I didn’t start off perfectly. But of course the first games in any tournament aren’t easy. … I tried to stay mentally focused and get into a rhythm,” Sinner said. “I’ll try to improve for the next game. I definitely still have room for improvement.”
This fight will be against another American opponent, Alex Michelsen.
Sinner quickly turned things around in the second set on Tuesday, making just 15 unforced errors in the final three sets, including zero in the third.
It’s the kind of game everyone is used to seeing from him, especially on hard courts like those in New York. He improved his record on that surface to 29-2 this season, winning four titles, including his first Grand Slam trophy at the Australian Open in January.
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