The Italian tennis ace twice tested positive for clostebol - a steroid that can be used to enhance muscle mass - in March but has been cleared of doping after The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) found that he was inadvertently contaminated by his physio Giacomo Naldi and his coach Darren Cahill has revealed that impact it has had on the world number one.

He told ESPN: "I guess if you are not a Jannik fan, you may not see too much difference in what he has been doing the last few months because he has still been playing quite well.

"But if you are a Jannik fan, you would have seen a big change in his body language, physicality on the court, his excitement to be on the court - he’s struggled and I think it’s worn him down physically and mentally.

"He got tonsillitis, which is the reason why he missed the Olympics.

"I just want to stress that he’s maybe the most professional young man that I have ever had the chance to work with. He would never ever intentionally do anything, and he’s in a situation that is incredibly unfortunate."

The decision has caused controversy with some claiming that Sinner has been treated differently from others because of his status as world number one and tennis legend Chris Evert thinks that top players are protected by the sport's authorities.

The 18-time Grand Slam winner: "They're going to keep certain things secret if you're a top player because they don't want the press, the player doesn't want the press.

"I do think there's some [more] protection there than if you were Joe Smith, ranked 400 in the world."