Jannik Sinner hires Novak Djokovic's former trainer and physiotherapist

The additions of Marco Panichi and Ulises Badio comes ahead of WADA's decision to possibly appeal the world No. 1's doping violation exoneration.

ByTENNIS.com

Published Sep 16, 2024

The Break: Sinner and Sabalenka win 2024 US Open

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Fresh off capturing his second Grand Slam title of the season, Jannik Sinner has finalized the addition of two new team members.

On Monday, the world No. 1 officially announced he has brought on board trainer Marco Panichi and physiotherapist Ulises Badio. News of the collaborations were reported to be moving forward last week.

"Welcome to the team." captioned Sinner in a selfie alongisde the two.

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A post shared by Jannik Sinner (@janniksin)

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Panichi and Badio are familiar faces on tour, most notably through their successful stints in Novak Djokovic's camp. Badio and the Serbian split after the 2022 season, while Panichi and Djokovic parted ways in May.

Prior to the US Open beginning, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) revealed that Sinner had tested positive for the anabolic steroid clostebol twice in March.

Sinner dismissed Taylor Fritz in straight sets to win his first US Open title.

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While he was ultimately sparred of a suspension after an independent tribunal found it had entered his system unintentionally through “no fault or negligence”, the 23-year-old lost trust in former trainer Umberto Ferrara and physiotherapist Giacomo Naldi for being the sources of the banned substance. The two were let go by Sinner for “mistakes” that saw Ferrera purchase Trofodermin over the counter in Italy, provide it to Naldi to treat a finger cut, before Naldi massaged Sinner without wearing gloves.

The San Candido native is 55-5 on the season and holds a near 3,000-point lead over Alexander Zverev in the race for ATP year-end No. 1. The winner of six titles this season, Sinner is not completely in the clear just yet. The World Anti-Doping Agency can still appeal the decision that fully exonerated him to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne.

Panichi recently shared with Tennis Majors that he had just begun working with 19-year-old Jerry Shang, who advanced to the third round of the US Open. He and Badio join coaches Simone Vagnozzi and Darren Cahill in the new-look Team Sinner.

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