Jannik Sinner won the 'Six Kings Slam' last Saturday, confirming that he would not want to lose even in an exhibition. The World number 1 had a particularly hard run in Saudi Arabia, having had to defeat in sequence Daniil Medvedev, Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz.
The Italian ace has proven to be almost unbeatable in indoor conditions and will be the top favorite at the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin, where he will have the added advantage of playing in front of his fans. Janniks season was really impressive, having won over 60 matches and suffered only six defeats.
The 23-year-old from Sesto Pusteria won seven titles in 2024, including two Major (Australian Open and US Open) and three Masters 1000 (Miami, Cincinnati and Shanghai). Sinners consistency allowed him to create a remarkable gap compared to Alcaraz in the ATP ranking, guaranteeing already now the certainty of closing the year at the top of the ATP ranking.
As if that were not enough, the two-time Grand Slam champion has earned $6 million thanks to his triumph in Saudi Arabia last weekend. Its amazing to think that the Italian ace has gained more from an exhibition than from his successes in Melbourne and New York this year.
Sinner is back in Monte Carlo
After playing in Saudi Arabia, the world number 1 returned to Monte Carlo to practice hard for the last three events of 2024. The 23-year-old from Sesto Pusteria will be back in action at Paris-Bercy next week for the last Masters 1000 of the season, before the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin and the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga.
The Italian ace lost 500 points from last years victory in Vienna and Jannik still has over 4000 points ahead of number two, big rival Carlos Alcaraz. Impressive, mentally and physically Sinner is literally scary and for some looks like a young Novak Djokovic. His numbers are impressive and Jannik leads the ATP ranking without any problem, this week he reached the 20 weeks of the ATP ranking, 17th in this ranking and reached a tennis legend Mats Wilander, former tennis player and now top analyst on the ATP tour.
During a press conference in Saudi Arabia, the Italian ace reflected on his rise: I have learned and accepted what I am. I made some big mistakes in the past, for example the match against Altmaier at Roland Garros (2023), I was not mentally ready. From that moment on, I started working on myself, trying to accept it and work even when you are tired during the workouts, when you feel like you cant do it anymore, but you have to keep moving forward to become the
Better version of yourself. Yesterday I had some hard times against Novak that I can improve on, I felt very tired at times. Today too, there are things that can be improved, but I feel like I have taken a step forward and I hope this will be the case for months and years to come because it is a long-term work.
Sinner has passed Mats Wilander and is set to climb this ranking again as he will be first at least until the end of the season and there are good chances that he will also be at the beginning of 2025. Sinner is 16 weeks away and could reach the top of the ranking Carlos Alcaraz, its not utopia and Jannik has excellent chances, the Spanish is at 36 and then Ilie Nastase was 40 weeks in the top of the ranking and then Andy Murray.
Scary numbers, the tennis player who has been more weeks at the top of the ranking in history and Novak Djokovic with 428 weeks, ahead of 310 Roger Federer and 286 Pete Sampras. Sinner and Alcaraz are just at the beginning but - given the situation - they are destined to climb the ranking still much.
A spectacular duopoly
In a long interview with Tennis Majors, 2020 US Open champion Dominic Thiem commented on Jannik and Carlitos rise: Carlos came up and Jannik came up. And now you have basically a similar situation if you want to win a big title. You have to beat both of them. They won all four Slams in 2024.
So, the situation didnt really change. I think its going to be the same in, I dont know, 15 years or something. People will say: OK, now, if Carlos, if Jannik, maybe the new guys coming up, if they retire, its going to be way easier. But again, new guys are going to come. It has been always like that in tennis history. I think it will always be.
