Sinner out for season. Could Djokovic benefit?

Matt Roberts (0:00)

Hi, this is Giselle and Julien, nine and seven years old. From Brussels, Belgium.

Catherine Whitaker (0:04)

We love playing tennis.

Matt Roberts (0:06)

If we have a dog, his name will be Roger.

David Law (0:09)

You are listening to the Tennis Podcast.

Catherine Whitaker (0:23)

Well, hello and welcome to The Tennis Podcast, introduced artfully today by Giselle and Julien there. They and their parents, Marlise and Patrice, are huge tennis fans, as I'm sure their baby sister, Scarlett, will be one day there in Brussels, which will be hosting an ATP 250 in a couple of weeks time, which is apparently going to change venue mid-tournament due to a previously scheduled Duran Duran concert, which is a new one on me. Look forward to Matt Statt from that week about whether a tournament has ever changed venue for a Duran Duran concert before. We have a lot to get through today, including titles in Tokyo and Beijing for Carlos Alcaraz and 39-year-old Novak Djokovic respectively, as well as everything that's been getting underway in the WCA 1000 event in Beijing as well, but we start with the news that dropped just a couple of hours ago from the current World No. 1, Jannik Sinner, who announced on Saturday that he is withdrawn from Shanghai, and then earlier today, the news that he is shutting down his whole season for 2026 He says, me together with my doctors have decided that I need a course of treatment for my knee, which means that the 2026 season is officially over. The last couple of years in Turin gave me so many beautiful feelings and emotions, which this year is going to be way different. But at the moment, I need to think about my long term career, so I will do everything possible to get back into 100%.

Knock on effects here are that Alexander Zverev will be World No. 1 and will end the year as World No. 1 as well to tremendous achievements. And it also means that in terms of Turin, which Sinner has mentioned there, an extra spot opens up for qualification. And currently in 9th place is Novak Djokovic. More on him later. David, your thoughts on this news, please.

David Law (2:34)

Really sad. Really sad for him and really sad for the sport. To lose somebody for this long again, I mean, twice in a year to lose Alcaraz and Sinner for multiple months. And to think now that Sinner is going to be out for longer even than Alcaraz was. And just like with Alcaraz, it just felt as though it came out of the blue.

With Alcaraz, I remember us doing a show in title, something like, will Alcaraz ever lose again? Because he'd won Australia, he'd sort of...

Matt Roberts (3:10)

That doesn't sound like us.

David Law (3:14)

I think he won Doha and he's just flying. And then there it goes. The wrist's a problem, he's out for months and he misses two major tournaments. Now Sinner, when he was holding that Wimbledon Trophy, if somebody had said to you, this is the last patch he's going to play all year, it would have sounded so absurd that he couldn't have looked in better, Nick, really.

Apart from the blip reading in Paris, he'd been so dominant. And Zverev couldn't get near him in any of the matches until that Wimbledon final. Fair play to him, he played well in that Wimbledon final. But yeah, a knee injury that has cost him half a year is just so sad, really. And look, I just hope it's not worse than that. I hope it's something that the rest of this year will sort out, you know. And I think it's sensible. The moment he said he wasn't going to play Shanghai, I said to you guys, he shouldn't play again this year. You know, that should be it now. That will probably be it. And here we are. It's not exactly an amazing prediction that he wouldn't play again, but there's just no point trying to shortcut it at all. You've just got to get it right now when you've had this long out.

And I can only hope for the best for him.

Catherine Whitaker (4:34)

He's being deliberately vague with his wording there, not telling us exactly what the situation, not telling us exactly what this course of treatment is. That's absolutely his right. It's his, you know, medical information.

That we had the reports from the Italian media. A week or so ago, that we reported here on the pod, that surgery was an option for whatever this situation is with his knee, but that it wasn't currently the option they were choosing to take. This phrase, Matt, course of treatment does suggest that possibly surgery could be what's back on the table. I mean, look, we're working with limited information here, aren't we? But, yeah, there's no reassurances here that he's going to be magically okay come 2027, which is a very queasy situation to be in.