WADA accepted Sinner’s explanation that he was accidentally contaminated by a massage from his physiotherapist, who used a spray containing the banned substance to treat a finger cut. They ruled that Sinner ‘did not intend to cheat’ but insisted that he was responsible for his team’s negligence, which ultimately saw him punished.

Djokovic's late career lives on impeccable serving and first-strike tennis. In Sinner, he faces the apex predator of that guise of the sport