Sinner Sunshine Double win resurrects favoritism claims

Every time Jannik Sinner does something impressive, a cadre of tennis fans come out of the woodwork to remind everyone that Sinner’s doping ban last year started just after the Australian Open but just before the Italian Open (the biggest tournament in his home country of Italy). He missed no majors and didn’t even lose his No. 1 ranking.

In other words, it was the most convenient doping ban in the history of organized athletics. Whether that is due to his being the world No. 1, I couldn’t say…. But it couldn’t have hurt, either.

Sinner just won the Sunshine Double — capturing the titles in both Indian Wells and Miami. It’s not unheard of, but it’s also not all that common since conditions are so different. Indian Wells takes place in the desert, while Miami is obviously in the soup of South Florida. Sinner adds a full 2,000 points to his ranking, owing to the fact that the previously mentioned doping ban knocked him out of both tournaments last year.

Novak Djokovic famously went on Piers Morgan at the end of 2025 and spent part of his interview complaining that Sinner got preferential treatment.

Serena Williams told Time Magazine, “I would have gotten 20 years if I’d done that.”

Players have mostly been cautious with outright condemnation of Sinner himself, choosing to focus on decisions by others that seem to favor him. This was the case earlier this year at the Australian Open when a heat warning went into effect right as he was losing to American Eliot Spizzirri and cramping to the point where retirement seemed imminent. The Australian Open closed the roof and Sinner came back to win the match.

Players noticed. Fans noticed. Other coaches noticed. And the fact that HIS coach, Darren Cahill, is extremely well-connected to Tennis Australia was ALSO noticed. And they didn’t notice quietly.

You know what I’ve noticed? That his success sets people off. They simultaneously claim that everyone loves him so much that they bend over backwards to do favors for him while ALSO stating that “nobody” likes him. They call him an automaton and take swipes at his lack of emotion. That Sinner is a polite player who treats his opponents respectfully and has a charming bromance with Carlos Alcaraz is at odds with the level of vitriol leveled at him. And it’s not just jealousy over his success, either, because Alcaraz is just as successful — and people just LOVE him!

As I was considering The Curious Case of Jannik Sinner, it occurred to me: it’s eerily similar to how the tennis community treated Ivan Lendl. I have vivid memories of the glee with which fans watched him choke his way out of the French Open title, which he shockingly lost to a cramping Michael Chang. Lendl’s crime? Success and stoicism. You can have one or the other — but not both, apparently. Lendl wasn’t scandalous; it didn’t matter.

It makes me wonder whether the Sinner favoritism complaints aren’t just an excuse. Andre Agassi quite literally admitted that tennis officials actively hid positive test results when he was using crystal methamphetamines. And people don’t rail on him nearly as much for a FAR more egregious example of favoritism.

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