“I had really bad cramping. I tried to keep fighting, but in the end, I couldn’t move properly. I’m disappointed, but I’ll rest and try to recover quickly,” Jannik Sinner said after his withdrawal against Tallon Griekspoor at the 2025 Shanghai Masters. Coming off of a strong victory at the China Open, Sinner was widely touted to defend his title in Shanghai. But what no one could’ve predicted was how big a role the muggy Shanghai weather would play in dictating results.

After more than two and a half hours of struggle in the brutal heat and humidity, Sinner’s body gave out. He started cramping badly in one leg and could barely move, forcing him to retire while trailing 6–7(3), 7–5, and 3–2. But even though Sinner was far from the only player to buckle under Shanghai’s heat, one former tennis star believes that his withdrawal is symptomatic of a general struggle with health issues.

Italian Davis Cup Captain from 1998 to 2000, Paolo Bertolucci weighed in on Sinner, saying, “The boy is a little fragile. He had cramps, then stomach problems, then elbow problems, then blisters and hip problems. In short, he’s starting to feel a lot. He doesn’t have the same physical consistency as Djokovic or Alcaraz, that seems obvious to me now, it’s not surprising. But we shouldn’t be overly worried either. I repeat, in this tragedy, we have the world number 2.” Not only did he speak about the injury that forced the world number 2 out of the Shanghai Open, but also about the injuries he has sustained over the entire season and previously.

A few months earlier, in August 2025, Sinner fell sick during the Cincinnati Open final against Carlos Alcaraz and had to retire while trailing 5–0, visibly struggling with stomach issues. Just weeks before that, at Wimbledon, he took a hard fall in his fourth-round match against Grigor Dimitrov, injuring his elbow badly enough to need scans and treatment afterward.

The year before, during the 2024 clay season, he battled persistent hip pain that eventually forced him to withdraw from both the Madrid and Italian Opens. An MRI later confirmed it was a real injury, not just discomfort.

While Bertolucci’s words comparing him with Djokovic and Alcaraz’s physicality might seem harsh, it does come without a solid base. While Djokovic and Alcaraz have had injuries too, they’ve shown far greater physical consistency.

Djokovic has played over 1,300 matches with only a handful of retirements and holds records for 24 Grand Slam titles and 428 weeks at No. 1, proving his endurance over two decades. Alcaraz, meanwhile, completed a 67–6 season in 2025 with no mid-match retirements, winning multiple titles back-to-back, including a run of hard court titles in Cincinnati, the US Open, and the Japan Open. In fact, his Japan Open victory came while he was nursing an injured ankle.

In contrast, Sinner has had several recent retirements and withdrawals, and Paolo Bertolucci is not the only one to go after the world number 2.

Jannik Sinner accused of being protected by the ATP

In the UNSCRIPTED by Josh Mansour podcast, star Australian tennis player Nick Kyrgios accused the ATP of protecting Sinner. “He was the number one player in the world [when he tested positive], and there is no doubt he is an incredible player and he is going to be carrying the sport for the next 10 to 15 years with Alcaraz,” he started. In early 2025, Jannik Sinner was suspended for three months after testing positive for the banned substance, clostebol, last year, which he said came from a contaminated cream used by his physiotherapist.

The ban ran from February to May 2025, but he retained his world No. 1 ranking during that time because his ranking points from earlier tournament wins kept him ahead of rivals, and the short ban didn’t erase his lead. Now Kyrgios also added, “So I mean obviously, they are protecting him (Sinner) to some degree. I mean, the CEO and all of the important people in the ATP are all Italian. And like the whole story for me is bulls–t.” While the current ATP CEO is Eno Polo, who is Kenyan, he succeeded Italy’s Massimo Calvelli in September 2025.

Kyrgios also praised Jannik Sinner, saying that when everything is said and done, Sinner will be remembered as one of the greatest players ever. Reflecting on their close match, Kyrgios remarked that he immediately realized how special Sinner was, thinking to himself that “this kid is going to be unbelievably good.” Sinner and Nick Kyrgios have faced each other once, at the 2022 Miami Open. Sinner won the match 7–6(3), 6–3. Despite Kyrgios’s theatrics, Sinner stayed composed and claimed the win.