The president of the Italian Tennis Federation, Angelo Binaghi, 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, having 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 recovered to lift the trophy for the second consecutive year, but later declined an invitation to meet Italian President Sergio Mattarella upon his return home. Binaghi defended the world No.2's decision, telling Corriere dello Sport: “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.”
He added: “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.”
Sinner also faced criticism for skipping the Davis Cup Finals at the end of 2025, but Italy triumphed without him. The nation has become a dominant force in tennis, with eight Italians in the top 100 of the ATP rankings and Jasmine Paolini in the WTA top 10. Italy also hosts the ATP Finals and the Davis Cup Finals.
Binaghi highlighted the broader achievements of Italian tennis: “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.”
Italy's United Cup campaign ended in the group stage this week, with Sinner absent. He will begin his 2026 season on a 15-match winning streak after titles in Vienna, Paris and the ATP Finals. He is due to face Carlos Alcaraz in an exhibition in Seoul, then Felix Auger-Aliassime, and will compete in the One Point Slam, an exhibition with £500,000 (A$1 million) on the line. He will play no official match before the Australian Open.
