Jannik Sinner’s coach Darren Cahill revealed that the virus could have forced the Italian to withdraw from the Australian Open. However, Sinner was able to recover on time and defended his crown in Melbourne. The World No.1 defeated World No.2 Alexander Zverev in the summit clash in straight sets (6-3, 7-6, 6-3) at the Rod Laver Arena on Sunday.

Meanwhile, in the fourth-round match against Holger Rune, Sinner was struggling with illness. With score one-set all, Rune had many break points in the third set but could not convert them. Sinner took almost a 10-minute medical time-out and got his momentum back as he bested the Dane in four sets

Cahill recalled that they had to cancel Sinner’s training and warm-up as he was not feeling well and also went to bed before time.

Darren Cahill said on Tennis Italiano, “Jannik was as white as a sheet . He was lucky to make it, helped by several breaks, with the game played in the heat of the day. He was feeling pretty bad. We didn’t know if he would go on the pitch. He was so bad. We knew from the day before that he wasn’t feeling well, so he went to bed early.”

“We cancelled his training, I think he was supposed to play around 2:30 in the afternoon. We had a warm-up booked for the morning and we cancelled it and moved it to midday, and when he showed up on the pitch he looked as white as a sheet. We cancelled all the training, went to the doctor, they gave him some gels to increase his energy. He rested, took an ice bath to get him going again and we threw him on the pitch without a warm-up.”

This was the third Major title for Sinner and he would look to carry his good show for the rest of the season.