Jannik Sinner does something for the first time in 17 years after making a winning return at the Italian Open

Jannik Sinner delighted his home crowd after making a winning return to professional tennis.

The 23-year-old stepped onto centre court at the Italian Open to play Mariano Navone in his first match since defending the Australian Open title in January.

The World number one was banned from tennis after testing positive for synthetic androgenic steroid clostebol on two occasions in 2024.

But three months later, Jannik Sinner was given a warm reception by his home crowd and it felt as though he had never been away as he sealed a relatively comfortable victory.

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Jannik Sinner does something for the first time since 2008 after making a winning return to action in Rome

If there were any nerves, Sinner looked very calm as he stepped onto court and completed his warmup before his first match in three months.

The US Open champion did not take long to settle in as he hit some blistering forehands in the opening game, and comfortably held his serve.

The Italian broke Navone’s serve to go up 3-1 and that was all he needed as he continued holding serve to take the set 6-3.

In a more evenly-fought second set, three successive breaks of serve started when Sinner went ahead 4-3, but Navone broke straight back to draw level at 4-4.

But Sinner would not be denied and he secured another break of serve to draw ahead 5-4 and successfully serve out a 6-3, 6-4 victory in one hour and 37 minutes.

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Sinner won his first match after his long-awaited return to tennis and in the process he claimed his 22nd victory in a row.

This makes the three-time Grand Slam champion the youngest player to do this since Juan Martin del Potro in 2008. The Argentine won 23 straight matches between that season’s Stuttgart and US Open events.

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Jannik Sinner reacts after playing his first match after a three-month ban

Sinner has been the talk of the tennis world ever since it was announced that he tested positive for a banned substance.

The fact he was allowed to continue while the investigation was ongoing was not received well by sections of the tennis world.

There was plenty of buzz and anticipation around Rome amid his return, but Sinner was able to block out the noise and focus on the task at hand – making a winning return to the tour.

Following his return, Sinner was very pleased to be back competing. “It’s an amazing feeling. I waited quite long for this moment. I’m very happy to be back,” the Italian told the ATP after his match.

“It’s very difficult to have the right feedback when you don’t have any matches, and that’s exactly what I need. Now I think the best practice is the match itself, so I’m very happy about that.

“I’m very happy about the win today. It was very difficult. He is such a great player, especially on this surface. I tried to move around the ball.

“At times it went very well, at times it could have been better, yes, but in any case, it doesn’t matter about the result today. It has been a remarkable day for me, so I’m very happy.”

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