Jannik Sinner victim of brain data theft by a company linked to the Chinese military?
What seemed like a gadget to enhance his mental performance on the court may be hiding one of the biggest cyber surveillance scandals in modern sports. Brain data of Jannik Sinner and other global stars may have been transmitted... for military purposes, in China.
The affair seems straight out of a science fiction novel. Yet, today it shakes the world of high-level sports and beyond. Jannik Sinner, world tennis star, inadvertently finds himself at the heart of an international espionage scandal.
According to an investigation by journalist Pablo Torre of the investigative media Hunterbrook, the company BrainCo, specializing in neurocognitive technologies, is allegedly linked to entities affiliated with the Chinese government. Its flagship product, the electronic headband FocusCalm, used by several renowned athletes, is reportedly a tool for collecting brain data for military purposes.
Among the users: Jannik Sinner, Iga Swiatek, Charles Leclerc, and Mikaela Shiffrin. Their common point? They all wore this device supposed to improve concentration and stress management through the analysis of brainwaves.
But according to documents obtained by Hunterbrook, data from these sessions would have been transmitted without their consent to Chinese servers. The objective? To train artificial intelligence capable of better preparing the Chinese military for combat situations under extreme stress.
Already, voices are beginning to rise. The Sinner camp reportedly refused to comment for the moment, but close sources claim he feels "betrayed and worried." Iga Swiatek, on her side, reportedly immediately stopped using the device, according to leaks relayed on X (formerly Twitter).
Cybersecurity experts are already calling for an independent investigation under the aegis of the UN or Interpol, while the Italian and Polish governments have reportedly been informed urgently. The ATP and WTA, for their part, remain silent for now.
