The president of the Italian Tennis Federation has revealed that Jannik Sinner “almost ended up in the hospital” during his run to the title at last year’s Australian Open. Sinner is the two-time defending champion at Melbourne Park, but he sparked fears at the 2025 tournament when he was seen visibly shaking during a lengthy medical timeout against Holger Rune in the fourth round.
Sinner bounced back and eventually went on to lift the trophy for the second year running. When he returned home to Italy, the world No. 2 did not meet President Sergio Mattarella, and Italian tennis chief Angelo Binaghi has now defended Sinner’s decision to decline an invitation from the President.
“Tennis is an intense individual sport that takes you from one side of the world to the other every week. This forces you to give things up, like the Olympics or the Davis Cup,” Binaghi told Corriere dello Sport, also explaining why Sinner skipped the recent Davis Cup Finals.
“Nobody’s perfect, but before rejecting Mattarella, I remember Sinner almost ending up in the hospital in Melbourne during the match with Rune. It’s not just physical rest, but also the need for distraction, to meet friends, to be with family. It would take 50 hours a day.”
The four-time Major winner sparked backlash when he decided not to represent Italy at the Davis Cup at the end of 2025, but the team went on to win without him. Italy also won the Billie Jean King Cup Finals and has become a top tennis nation.
There are eight Italians in the top 100 of the ATP rankings, while Jasmine Paolini sits in the top 10 on the WTA side. Italy also hosts the ATP Finals and Davis Cup Finals, and and the Italian Tennis Federation president added: “If you broaden your perspective, you see [Lorenzo] Musetti, Paolini, the Davis Cup, a system.
“If you broaden your perspective even further, you see that for 15 years we’ve been the only federation in the world with a themed television program. And then, we were losing the Italian Open, while now the ATP, WTA, and ITF are looking to us because we’ve become the best tournament organizers. They gave us the Finals and the Davis Cup. We laid the foundations before Sinner was even born.”
It wasn’t to be for Italy at this week’s United Cup in Australia, however, as Flavio Cobolli, Jasmine Paolini and co were unable to make it out of the group stage. Sinner did not enter the tournament, and will not play an official match before the Australian Open.
The world No. 2 will start his 2026 season on a 15-match winning streak after picking up titles in Vienna, Paris, and the ATP Finals at the end of last year. Sinner is due to face Carlos Alcaraz in an exhibition match in Seoul before heading to Melbourne Park to start his Australian Open title defence. He will also take on Felix Auger-Aliassime in another friendly, and will compete in the One Point Slam – an exhibition pitting the professionals against amateur players, with £500k (A$1m) on the line.