Italy's Jannik Sinner celebrates after winning the Davis Cup final. — Reuters

World number one Jannik Sinner expressed that the off-court turmoil stemming from doping accusations has been 'heartbreaking,' following his victory in the Davis Cup with Italy on Sunday, which capped off an exceptional year. The 23-year-old secured wins at the Australian Open, US Open, and ATP Finals, and played a pivotal role as Italy clinched their second consecutive Davis Cup title. However, Sinner acknowledged that he is not entirely free from mental burdens. He is still awaiting the verdict of the World Anti-Doping Agency's (Wada) appeal against his initial exoneration for testing positive for traces of the steroid clostebol in March.

'Of course it's in the head a little bit,' Sinner said. 'The most important part is that the people around me, who know me as a human being, trust me — that's also why I kept playing at the level I have.' He added, 'Those who know me, I was emotionally a bit down, a bit heartbroken. Sometimes life gives you difficulties and you just have to deal with it.'

After Italy's victory over the Netherlands in the final, Dutch captain Paul Haarhuis commented that from the outside, the doping case against Sinner was difficult to analyze. 'About doping, we never know what happened,' Haarhuis said. 'What's my feeling? Jannik is an unbelievable nice guy, a great player, but we never know what happened.'

Sinner previously informed the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) that the small quantities of clostebol found in his system were due to 'contamination by a member of his staff who had applied an over-the-counter spray containing clostebol on his own hand to treat a small wound.' The ITIA accepted Sinner's explanation and he avoided a lengthy ban, but Wada appealed and is seeking a suspension of one to two years.

Sinner became the first player since Swiss legend Roger Federer in 2005 to complete a season without a defeat in straight sets. He secured the Davis Cup for Italy by defeating Netherlands' Tallon Griekspoor in the second singles rubber, following Matteo Berrettini's win over Botic van de Zandschulp in the opener.

'Coming back as defending champions and winning again is one of the best feelings,' Sinner said. 'I'm very happy and glad that we managed this. The whole team, we gave 100 percent, there's a lot of work behind the scenes which all of you cannot see.'

Berrettini had an outstanding tournament, winning in doubles against Argentina in the quarterfinals and in singles rubbers against Australia and the Netherlands. The 2021 Wimbledon runner-up praised Sinner's performance throughout the season, crediting him for Italy's success last year.

'It's a special experience (to watch Sinner)... last year when we were here we were looking in each other's eyes and saying that this guy is someone else, something different,' Berrettini said. 'We'd never seen someone hitting the ball so hard, so flat, since then he's lost six matches and as you can see he's the most humble guy on the planet.'

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