Jannik Sinner and the US Open doubt: the conditions of the world number one

Participation in the US Open still remains a question mark. Jannik Sinner has completed the tour de force away from the courts between tests and cutting-edge therapies to remedy the inflammation of the tendons of his right knee: days that the number one in world tennis, stuck in the pits since his victory at Wimbledon and forced to give up the Masters 1000 in Montreal and the current one in Cincinnati, spent part of it at the JMedical in Turin.

It was precisely in the specialized center of Juventus that Sinner returned the day after his 25th birthday: flooded with good wishes, the South Tyrolean champion underwent new checks, specialist tests and even shock wave therapies.

Then some tests on the pitch for a short training session again in the Piedmontese capital, then the return home to Monte Carlo, where he tried some exchanges on the pitch with coach Simone Vagnozzi. Now it will be training itself that will give the answer that Sinner (and his fans) awaits: and if there is moderate optimism from some quarters also in light of the fact that the appointment with Flushing Meadows is still several days away, the decision has not yet been made.

There is the awareness that, after more than a month without tournaments, the knee problem must be completely behind him to face the American slam, with three sets out of five the athletic response must be at the top. After the collapse in Paris, however, linked to other causes, Sinner had expressed the need to indulge his body and always put it first: so the diktat remains unchanged even in these complicated days.

Be careful and if the approval for participation arrives it will only be with the definitive green light from the doctors. Also worrying are the humid heat expected during the slam in New York and the concrete surface, not exactly a good hand for the knee.

While waiting for the reserve to be lifted (before the end of the month in any case the n.1 would not be in the field for the US Open) in Cincinnati the other big blue, Lorenzo Musetti, settled the practice with Michael Zheng in two sets: the blue, seeded n.10 of the tournament, prevailed 6-1 6-3, earning the round of 16 of the Masters in Ohio for the first time. This season he had also joined them in the 1000 in Madrid and Rome. After the passage of Vavassori-Bolelli, Sara Errani also advances in the women's doubles category and for Cincinnati she decided to pair up with the young Canadian Leylah Fernandez, beating on her debut 6-2 7-6(2) the German Tamara Korpatsch and the British Emily Webley-Smith, who took the place of the Russian Mirra Andreeva and the Romanian Sorana Cirstea.