The aftermath of a virus prevented Sinner from performing at his best in Australia and Doha

Pedro de Pablos | 18 Mar 2026 | 22.42

The aftermath of a virus prevented Sinner from performing at his best in Australia and Doha.

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Jannik Sinner has regained his best form to win the Indian Wells Masters 1000 after a tumultuous start to the season, where he had a streak of play and results that raised certain doubts about his figure. However, according to an Italian tennis legend like Paolo Bertolucci, this was due to a virus from which he has now recovered.

The "bad streak" attributed to the current world number two was actually a loss to Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open semifinals after a historic duel, and another setback against a great Jakub Mensik in the ATP Doha quarterfinals. After coming up empty-handed in those two tournaments, Sinner triumphed in the first Masters 1000 of the year, the only one missing for him on hard court, also cutting into Carlos Alcaraz's lead in the race for number one.

Bertolucci, a Davis Cup champion with Italy, first downplayed the issue in an interview with 'La Gazzetta Dello Sport'. "Fans take their idol's defeat almost as a personal insult: with Sinner, who had disappointed the tennis community, losing one match unleashes a tragedy. Sometimes we forget that Jannik always wants to win, but he himself knows that even the greatest have faced defeat," he stated.

Bertolucci minimizes Sinner's early 2026 defeats

What was surprising about his statements came later, when he said, "players of this level who participate in 17 tournaments a year win an average of six or seven, so it is logical that they lose the other ten. That's the calculation you have to make. It was foreseeable that, once the virus that prevented him from performing at his best in Melbourne and Doha was overcome, Jannik would recover his previous level."

Sinner never mentioned this virus at any time to excuse his defeats, accepting with total naturalness that winning is not always granted and recovering as champions of his caliber do. It is true that at the Australian Open, he suffered from cramps in his match against Spizzirri, but nothing more than that. Nevertheless, it is clear that the San Candido tennis player is gradually regaining his best form, which is a cause for concern for his closest rivals.

This news is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, "Las secuelas de un virus impidieron a Sinner rendir al máximo en Australia y Doha"