«I saw the video in which our Jannik Sinner’s hands were shaking and I am convinced that it was a panic attack. Extreme sports with high competitive intensity and competitiveness, especially of the anaerobic type, such as tennis, can be a trigger factor for triggering a panic attack in predisposed individuals.” Thus at Adnkronos Salute Rosario Sorrentino, neurologist and science communicator, returns to the illness suffered by the South Tyrolean champion during the match won against Holger Rune in the round of 16 of the Australian Open 2025 underway in Melbourne.
The panic attack “can manifest itself with both physical and mental disorders – explains Sorrentino – It presents with tremors in the hands and legs, a sense of dizziness with tachycardia and hyperventilation, which are the key symptoms”. Immediately afterwards «the fear of the sensations felt sets in, making it uncomfortable to start again. These sensations – adds the neurologist – last a few seconds, a few minutes at most, but are capable of destabilizing the athlete’s perception of control and physical performance due to the strong fear of being able to experience those sensations again”. Consequently “the athlete tends in those moments to stop to understand what has happened to him, as Sinner did”. Like Jannik, concludes Sorrentino, “there are many athletes who have experienced and can experience this condition.”
