Jannik Sinner will become the new tennis World No.1 next week no matter who wins the French Open.
The 22-year-old reached the semi-finals at Roland Garros earlier this week and after that match, he was confirmed to have achieved an incredible feat.
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Due to reigning champion Novak Djokovic’s withdrawal through injury, Sinner is now guaranteed to become World No.1 for the first time.
He will become the first ever Italian to top the world rankings since the ATP Rankings were published in 1973.
It will be a monumental achievement and one that has become very, very rare over the last two decades.
Since 2003, only two other tennis stars have been able to dethrone one of the ‘Big Four’ (Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray) at the top of the rankings.
The four superstars have dominated tennis over that time with them combining for 988 weeks as the top-ranked player in the sport.
Carlos Alcaraz is the only player to appear at the top in the last two years consistently and he is already closing in on Murray, catching up to the Brit’s 41 weeks with 36.
Russian Daniil Medvedev is the only other different player to have been at No.1 in the last 21 years, sitting in the spot for 16 weeks in 2022.
That proves how huge this moment is for Sinner, although he would have hoped he could have achieved it on his own, not due to Djokovic pulling out at Roland Garros.
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Speaking after being told he was going to become World No.1, Sinner said: “It means a lot to me for sure. It’s not the way we all were expecting actually.”
He also mentioned Djokovic and his withdrawal from the tournament, continuing: “He had two very long matches, tough matches, five sets, so it’s tough.
“You know, it’s tough also for the tournament. Novak retiring, it’s always tough.
“Talking about myself, I am very happy about this achievement. It’s a lot of work we put in daily. It’s a daily routine. Obviously I’m happy to have this number.
“In two days there is a very important match for me, the semi-finals, so I’m focused about that at the moment.
“But, yes, of course, I’m very happy to have this number now.”
