Jannik Sinner's split with tennis star and kiss with Hollywood actor's ex
Jannik Sinner's split with tennis star and kiss with Hollywood actor's ex
Jannik Sinner is in the final at Roland Garros where he is facing Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz
Jannik Sinner of Italy celebrates with his girlfriend Anna Kalinskaya last year. They have since split
(Image:)
Jannik Sinner, the world's top-ranked tennis player, is back in Grand Slam final action at Roland Garros today, facing Carlos Alcaraz in Paris.
Sinner is back competing after his three-month doping ban ended on May 6.
A new era in tennis appears to be taking shape, with 38-year-old Novak Djokovic saying of the pair: "They're definitely great for tennis, both of them.
"I think their rivalry is something that our sport needs, no doubt. The way they are playing and approaching tennis life, I think they are going to have very successful careers in the next years.
"I'm sure that we're going to see them lifting the big trophies quite often."
Attention has obviously been drawn to Sinner's life off the court and his romantic relationships.
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Reports suggest that he has been training for the Italian Open in Monte Carlo last month accompanied by a stunning Russian model.
Italian publication Chi magazine captured images of 23-year-old Sinner with 31-year-old model Lara Leito at the Monte Carlo Country Club.
Leito previously had a six-year relationship with Oscar-winning Hollywood star Adrien Brody and has also been linked to French actor Olivier Martinez.
According to reports, Sinner and Leito were spotted sharing a kiss and an embrace after she watched his training session from the sidelines.
Jannik Sinner's new reported girlfriend, Lara Leito, and, inset, Sinner with ex Anna Kalinskaya
This comes after Sinner's break-up with fellow tennis player Kalinskaya in November, following a seven-month romance. Sinner confirmed last month that he is currently single.
'There's a lot of attention,' Sinner said in May. "Also, off the court, I was surprised to see some pictures, which, nothing serious. I'm not in a relationship!"
Sinner reluctantly accepted the suspension in February after the World Anti-Doping Agency appealed against a decision to clear him of blame over a banned steroid which, it had been accepted, had entered his body via a product used by his then physio during a massage.
His time away from the sport has highlighted the potential difficulties in regaining his previous form.
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"(They have been) very long months, but I was glad to share some great moments with my family, with my friends," Sinner shared. "We were practising very hard, especially in the gym in the beginning, coming back to court again.
"It was good, but I could feel that I'm not playing for quite a long time. The body still has to adjust, the blisters in hands. They didn't come again because you're not used to it anymore, but all good, I'm just very happy, very curious to see where I am at."
Sinner expressed that though he was reluctant to accept the ban, he chose to do so to circumvent the unpredictability of taking his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, saying: "I didn't want to do it in the beginning, so it was not easy for me to accept it because I know what really happened," and elaborated on his difficult decision by adding, "But sometimes we have to choose the best in a very bad moment and that's what we did."
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BBC News
24 minutes ago
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