Jannik Sinner has shocked the tennis world by suddenly firing his fitness coach and physiotherapist just days before Wimbledon 2025 begins.
It’s a pretty stunning move considering he only hired these guys less than a year ago.
Marco Panichi and Ulises Badio joined Sinner’s team back in September after working with Novak Djokovic. They replaced his previous team members who got caught up in that messy doping situation.
| Name | Age | Points | Stats 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jannik Sinner | 24 | 15,405 | 33 - 3 |
Here’s what happened with that whole drama. Sinner tested positive for clostebol at the 2024 Indian Wells tournament, but it wasn’t his fault.
His physiotherapist at the time, Giacomo Naldi, had been giving him massages. The problem? Naldi was using a spray that contained the banned substance.
Umberto Ferrara, who was Sinner’s fitness trainer back then, had actually given Naldi that spray. When everything came out later, Ferrara basically threw Naldi under the bus, saying he’d told him to keep the spray away from the world No. 1.
The Suspension and Comeback
Sinner ended up serving a three-month suspension from February until just before the 2025 Italian Open in May. Once the story went public in August, he immediately fired both Ferrara and Naldi.
That’s when Panichi and Badio came in as the replacements.
And honestly? The partnership seemed to be working really well. During those three months away from competition, Sinner put in serious work with his new team.
You could see the results too. He came back looking stronger and fitter than ever.
Even when he lost that heartbreaking Roland Garros final to Carlos Alcaraz after holding three championship points, his body held up perfectly fine. That match went five hours and 29 minutes, and Sinner never looked like he was physically breaking down.
The loss wasn’t about fitness – it was just tennis.
Why the Sudden Split?
So that’s what makes this news so surprising. If everything was going well, why make such a drastic change now?
Nobody’s giving any official reasons yet. Sky Sport Italy expects Sinner’s team to release a statement in the next few hours, but right now everyone’s pretty much in the dark.
It’s really strange timing. These guys have great reputations in the tennis world.
You don’t usually see splits like this unless something serious has happened behind the scenes.
Hopefully it’s not another controversy brewing. Sinner’s already been through enough stress to last an entire career with that doping saga generating headlines for months.
But the sudden nature of these exits? It definitely raises some questions.
Bad Timing for Wimbledon
This definitely isn’t ideal preparation for Wimbledon. Sinner already admitted that playing at Halle so soon after that crushing Roland Garros defeat was really tough on him.
He said he needed a break before focusing on the grass court season.
Now he’s got to deal with all the questions and speculation about why he fired two key members of his team.
But here’s the thing about Sinner – he’s shown he can handle adversity pretty amazingly well. Remember, he won the 2024 US Open just days after news of his doping case first became public.
That takes some serious mental strength.
He also reached finals at both the Italian Open and Roland Garros in his first two tournaments back from suspension. The guy knows how to compartmentalize and focus on tennis when everything else is chaos.
At just 23 years old, Sinner’s already proven he’s got the mental toughness to deal with whatever gets thrown at him. He’s going to need those qualities again as this story develops and Wimbledon approaches.
The tennis world will definitely be watching to see how this all plays out.
