Men’s tennis has a new world No 1 with Jannik Sinner becoming the first Italian to sit at the top of the ATP Rankings while Novak Djokovic finds himself outside the top two for the first time in a year.
Before a ball was hit at the French Open, Sinner was in the driving seat to become world No 1 as Djokovic had to reach at least the semi-final to prevent the Italian from taking over at the top.
However, the battle for the No 1 ranking didn’t go down to the wire as Djokovic suffered a serious knee injury in the fourth round and was forced to withdraw from the tournament as he opted to undergo surgery.
Sinner himself went on to reach the semi-final where he lost against eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz, but he was already assured of taking over at the top and he is now the 29th No 1 in ATP history.
Djokovic had spent the past 39 weeks at No 1 as he replaced Alcaraz after winning the 2023 US Open title and he is effectively 428 weeks and out, but there is no doubt that you can’t write him off as he could still return to No 1 again.
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With Alcaraz winning the title to become a three-time Grand Slam winner, the Spaniard also moved up a place to No 2 and it means Djokovic is now outside the top two for the first time since May 2023.
The 24-time Grand Slam winner could suffer another big drop in the coming weeks if he doesn’t play at Wimbledon.
Sinner enjoys a 945-point lead over Alcaraz, who has a lot of points to defend at Queen’s Club and Wimbledon in the coming weeks, with Djokovic another 220 points behind.
Roland Garros runner-up Alexander Zverev cemented his place at No 4 as he boosted his points tally by 580 points while the only other change in the top 10 sees Alex de Minaur up to No 9 while Stefanos Tsitsipas slips to No 11.
Holger Rune’s slide also continues as he is down two places to No 15 after losing in the fourth round, but there is a return to the top 20 for Felix Auger-Aliassime as he moves up three spots to No 18.
The big movers outside the top 20 were Corentin Moutet as the Frenchman jumped 23 places to No 56, Brandon Nakashima is up 14 spots to No 70, Sumit Nagal climbed 18 places to a career-high No 77, Zizou Bergs now sits at a new high of No 81 after moving up 23 places.
In terms of the big fallers, Andy Murray is close to exiting the top 100 as he dropped 22 spots No 97 while Borna Coric slipped 15 places to No 88
ATP Rankings Top 20
1. Jannik Sinner Italy – 9,525 points
2. Carlos Alcaraz Spain – 8,580
3. Novak Djokovic Serbia – 8,360
4. Alexander Zverev Germany – 6,885
5. Daniil Medvedev – 6,485
6. Andrey Rublev – 4,710
7. Casper Ruud Norway – 4,025
8. Hubert Hurkacz Poland – 3,995
9. Alex de Minaur Australia – 3,845
10. Grigor Dimitrov Bulgaria – 3,775
11. Stefanos Tsitsipas Greece – 3,740
12. Taylor Fritz United States – 3,090
13. Tommy Paul United States – 2,710
14. Ben Shelton United States – 2,590
15. Holger Rune Denmark – 2,540
16. Ugo Humbert France – 2,250
17. Alexander Bublik Kazakhstan – 2,150
18. Felix Auger-Aliassime Canada – 2,075
19. Sebastian Baez, Argentina – 2,030
20. Nicolas Jarry Chile – 1,905