Sinner tests knee in Turin, eyes comeback in Beijing
World number one Jannik Sinner, sidelined since his Wimbledon triumph on July 12 due to a knee tendon injury, is undergoing decisive fitness tests in Turin this week as he targets a return at the Beijing ATP 500 on September 30.
Italian tennis star Jannik Sinner, currently ranked world No. 1, resumed practicing with his racket at the Stampa Sporting club in Turin on Tuesday to assess the condition of his right knee following treatment for tendon inflammation. According to La Gazzetta dello Sport and Corriere dello Sport, the results of these on-court tests will determine his schedule for the coming days.
Recovery timeline
Sinner has not played an official match since July 12, when he beat Alexander Zverev in the Wimbledon final. The injury forced him to skip both the Cincinnati Masters 1000 — where he retired from last year's final due to illness — and the US Open in New York, where he lost last year's final to Carlos Alcaraz. Per La Gazzetta dello Sport, Sinner reviewed his condition with his medical team on Monday — physiotherapist Alejandro Resnicoff, team doctor Luca Semperboni and fitness coach Umberto Ferrara — and the knee's response was reportedly positive. If the coming days confirm this trend, Sinner could return home to Monte Carlo this weekend and resume full tennis training with coach Simone Vagnozzi from Monday.
The target date is September 30, when the Beijing ATP 500 begins — a title Sinner is defending, and for which, according to Corriere dello Sport, he is already officially entered. However, as OA Sport points out, his participation is not yet guaranteed and will depend on how the knee responds to increasing training loads over the coming weeks. Tournament director Lars Graff has said he is confident Sinner will show up, noting that communication with the player's team has been good and the signals received are very positive.
A stacked field awaits
Should Sinner take the court in Beijing, he would face a strong draw. According to the provisional entry list compiled by OA Sport, Germany's Alexander Zverev is seeded second behind Sinner and is currently in position to potentially overtake him for the world No. 1 ranking. Also entered are Novak Djokovic (seed 5), Daniil Medvedev (seed 8), Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime and Australia's Alex de Minaur. Rising Italian talent Flavio Cobolli, seeded sixth, adds extra local interest, raising the possibility of an all-Italian showdown with Sinner.
Sinner and Alcaraz have met only once this season, in the Monte Carlo final, which the Italian won on his way to also lifting titles in Madrid and Rome. A rematch before the Shanghai Masters 1000 looks unlikely, since Sinner will be playing in Beijing while Alcaraz competes in the concurrent Tokyo ATP 500. The two rivals are expected to meet again in late October at the lucrative Six Kings Slam exhibition in Riyadh, where Sinner has twice beaten Alcaraz in the final.
