Buckle up possums, it’s the Australian Open!

[IceandIndigo]

New thread.

So Jannik Sinner has been given a 3 month ban which will end 2 weeks before RG starts- scuppers his clay season prep and makes him a target for the press off court now. It should have been handled much better at the time.

Yes, just read that. He'll miss 3 1000 tournaments, including the Miami Open which he won last year, but he's so far ahead of the others that he probably won't lose the No1 spot unless Zverev wins virtually every tournament for the next 3 months, which I can't see happening. Let's hope this draws a line under it.

I'm a bit fed up of him winning everything anyway. Give someone else a chance

I suppose so- so long as it doesn't let Djok back into contention!

Oh no I keep forgetting he's still around

Hmm I'm not really sure what I think of this - he won't miss a Grand Slam and will probably still stay as no 1 - not sure how much of a punishment this is?

I don't think it's been handled very well and there will still be question marks over him but yes hopefully he can draw a line under it now

It doesn't seem to have affected his form while it's been going on though as he does seem to have won everything over the last few months

Stan posted "I don't believe in clean sport any more"

It does all seem a bit murky which is unfortunate for Jannik and tennis

It has been very badly handled - especially in contrast to what happened with Simona. Either what happened with Jannik was entirely accidental and not in any way liely to enhance his performance and be seen as cheating- or it was a blatant act of doping.

This doesn't really answer that.

I feel sorry for Jannik, because if it was (as he says) genuinely accidental, it now looks like there was more to it.
But if he did knowingly do something, (and the powers that be think he did )then- no, it's not really a punishment at all, when Simona's career was destroyed before it even got to the investigation stage, she waited so long.

The fact Jannik has been able to continue to play at a high standard might confirm innocence, since it suggests he's playing with a clear conscience. Not worrying on court. He doesn't seem the type to be going out there thinking 'ha, get you, suckers'.

But do we really know what any of the players are actually like?

It's all a bit sad really, and does cast a shadow on the sport.

Yes it is very unsatisfactory Raahh and other players, especially Simona Halep, should feel wronged about how their cases were handled - her career was effectively ended by her ban

I really don't know how I feel about it all - I don't think that Jannik did deliberately dope but I do feel uneasy that his team seem to have been able to apparently negotiate a 'ban' that's not too damaging to his career

The way that it's been handled will I think always leave question marks over Jannik (and even more annoyingly has allowed Nick Kyrgios to crawl out of his hole to comment on X)

Feli has posted a fairly reasoned response to Stan's post

yes, exactly, it's the comments from the likes of Kyrgios that annoy me about the situation.

In other good human persons news this is lovely

Aww, that's lovely Jane.Diego will be missed on the tour.

Yeah I think Jannik’s case has been badly handled, to the detriment of the sports’s image. I also don’t think he deliberately doped but if he deserves a ban under the rules he should serve one and not just wait for the most convenient time so he doesn’t have to miss any slams. Oh well, hopefully a chance for some other players to shine in his absence.

That's sweet from Holger - Diego will be missed . Rafa has done some nice posts about him as well

ADF has made the final in Delray Beach, beating Taylor Fritz on the way. He’ll play Kecmanovic in the final. Really hope he wins, it would be his first title!

Joao Fonseca has made the final in Buenos Aires and will play Cerundolo. Should be spicy, no love love between the Argentinians and Brazilians!

I'm really pleased for ADF- he had a rubbish year last year, so it would be great to get this under his belt.

Still not sure about the 80s hair, though. . it's so fluffy, I can see why he had the under cut now!

Fonseca is doing very well for himself. And yes, it will be a spicy final!

Yep, Buenos Aires is loud. It’s looking close so far, I’m hoping Fran will win it since it’s his home tournament. Joao can have Rio next week - and I’m sure he’s going to win plenty of things given how good he is at 18.

Well done Joao! Crazy end to the match with 3 breaks of serve, and the umpire had totally lost control of the crowd.

Vamos ADF!

Topsy turvy match for ADF, won the first set easily, lost the second 1-6. Has disappeared to the loo.

I can’t believe he got broken back. (Well actually I can, unfortunately).

Oh dear

Well done Miomir. Disasterclass at the end there from ADF, feel really bad for him.

Well done Miomir. I love watching him play but I missed the final. ADF got a huge runner up trophy!