Jannik Sinner is spending his 38th week on the ATP throne. Jannik will stay away from the official tournaments by May following his agreement with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). That opens the door for Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev tochip away at Sinners lead in the rankings.
The Italian will miss the first four Masters 1000 events of the season due to his suspension. However,things will not be easy for the Spaniard and the German in their quest, especially after missing their chances last week.
Carlos and Alexander entered the ATP 500 tournaments in Doha and Rio as the top seeds. Still, they failed to reach the semi-final and earn valuable points and close massive gaps to the Italian. Jannik will drop 1600points during his absence.
He will return to action in Rome with 9730 ATP points on his tally. Alcaraz defends 1400 points in Indian Wells, Miami and Madrid. He is 3600 points behind Sinner, which means he needs deep runs at all four Masters 1000 events and the ATP 500 event in Barcelona to challenge him.
Zverev collected850 points between Indian Wells and Madrid last year. He is in a better position to dethrone Sinner after currently trailing 3000 points. Alexander chases the ATP 500 crown in Acapulco this week.If heclaims it, the Germanwill put himself in a nice position to become world no. 1 for the first time.
Alcaraz had a massive chance to reach the semi-final in Doha and earn more ATP points. He led 4-2 in the decider against Jiri Lehecka in the quarter-final and had a break chance in the seventh game. The Czech saved it and turned the tables.
Lehecka rattled off four straight games and scored a career-best 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 victory. Zverev was the top seed in Rio. He defeated two rivals before falling to world no. 86 Francisco Comesana 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 and experienced a massive setback.
The Argentine trailed 4-1 in the final set before rattling off five games and moving over the top in two and a half hours for his first top-10 victory.
