Jannik Sinner not thinking about doping case as he toasts Australian Open win

Jannik Sinner expressed pride in his continued ability to put his ongoing doping case to one side and dominate on court.

The world number one defeated Alexander Zverev 6-3 7-6 (4) 6-3 to successfully defend his Australian Open title and make it three victories in a row at the hard-court grand slams after he also won the US Open.

Just before the fortnight in New York came the shock news that Sinner had failed two doping tests last March but been cleared of blame, only for that decision to be appealed against by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

On the eve of the Australian Open, meanwhile, the Court of Arbitration for Sport announced that the hearing would take place in April, meaning Sinner could potentially miss the year’s next grand slam, the French Open in May, if he is given a ban.

“I’m not thinking at the moment about this,” said the 23-year-old, who is the first Italian man or woman to win three slam singles titles.

“I just came off an amazing run again here. I want to enjoy this moment. Then it’s the hearing. We know now the dates, and that’s it.

“I’m very proud. It’s actually tough to describe. Many, many things happen off the court, what you maybe don’t know. When I go on the court, even if sometimes it’s very difficult to block these kind of things, I have the team and people who are close to me who trust me.

“That for me is even more important because I can talk very openly with them. When I go on court, I try to focus on the match. Of course, it’s still a little bit in the back of your mind. I know that I’m in this position now. So nothing I can change.

“I keep playing like this because I have a clear mind on what happened. If I know if I would be guilty, I would not play like this. Every time it (the case) came