Jannik Sinner has won the fourth Masters 1000 of his young career in Shanghai, the third in his incredible 2024 streak of success. The Italian ace has won seven titles this year, including two Majors at the Australian Open and the US Open. The world number 1 has maintained a very high level for most of the season, suffering only six defeats from January to date. There is no doubt that Jannik is the best player in the world at this time, even though his great rival Carlos Alcaraz beat him three times in 2024 and scored a double for the French Open-Wimbledon Championships.
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The 23-year-old from Sesto Pusteria is already sure to finish 2024 at the top of the ATP ranking and decided to skip the ATP 500 in Vienna, where last year he lifted the trophy defeating Daniil Medvedev in the final. The two-time Grand Slam champion will play the Masters 1000 in Paris-Bercy as the final test before the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin, where he was defeated by 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic in the final in 2023.
Sinner will also be one of the protagonists at the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga in November, where he will try to help Italy repeat last years triumph. Before focusing on the upcoming Masters 1000 and the final tournaments of the season, the Italian ace will play an event that has been a huge topic in recent weeks.
SixKingsSlam's schedule
The first edition of the Six Kings Slam will start tomorrow in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Luxury exhibition that sees in field 6 among the best players of the world. There will be Jannik Sinner, world number 1, Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal in what will be the penultimate outing of his career. And again Daniil Medvedev and Holger Rune. An exhibition that starts tomorrow and will close on Saturday, October 19 with the finals. Jannik Sinner arrived in Riyadh and was greeted with a video of the events organization. But when will Jannik Sinner debut? Here are all the dates and times of the matches.
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This exhibition sees only two matches of quarterfinals because Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal are already in the semi-finals and will enter into the competition only on Thursday. As mentioned, the first match will be tomorrow, Wednesday 16th October, and the opening match will be between Jannik Sinner and 2021 US Open champion Daniil Medvedev. The world number 1 and the Russian tennis player will face at 19.30 in Saudi Arabia. Tomorrow, not before 20 the second quarter between Holger Rune and 4-time Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz.
The schedule of the semi-finals has already been decided: on Thursday, October 17, Novak Djokovic will face the winner of the match between Medvedev and Sinner at 6.30 pm. Next, but not before 20:00, on the court against Rafael Nadal who wins the fourth between Rune and Alcaraz. Saturday 19 October the third and fourth place final from 18.30 and the final of the event not before 20. The matches will all be played at the best of three sets.
Sinner is unstoppable
The next few months will also be important for Jannik from another point of view. WADA has appealed the acquittal of ITIA and the final verdict is expected in early 2025. "First of all, it's not a situation where I like to be in, no? It's a very delicate and difficult and also different situation. But what I know is that I always try to remind myself that I haven't done anything wrong, which already just gives you a little bit head up. For sure I had sleepless nights during this time. Now again it's going to be not easy the World No.1 said in a recent interview.
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"Of course, I have moments where I think about it, which is not the best part. So, yeah, you take the success in a different way. And I think that's what I learned is that the success will never change me as a person, or as a player because next tournament I can go far again, or I could lose the first round, but it's not going to change me as a person, as a human," Sinner continued.
The 23-year-old from Sesto Pusteria is likely to be disqualified next year, despite ITIA having acknowledged the total unintentional nature of his contamination. The two-time Grand Slam champion thought this was over, but WADA surprised everyone by filing an appeal just days before the deadline. WADA has requested a disqualification from 1 to 2 years. The Italian ace will need all his mental strength once again to overcome this hard and demanding challenge.
