TURIN.- The Italian tennis player Jannik Sinner This Monday he received the world No. 1 trophy, awarded at each season end by the ATPduring the second day of the Masters in Turin.
“It is a very exclusive club, there have only been 29 world No. 1s in history. When I was a child, I never thought I would reach this level, but little by little I have arrived, working hard,” he declared.
“The most important thing is to have people around you that you feel good about every week, I’ve been lucky,” Sinner continued.
The Italian, who won his first two Grand Slam titles (Australian Open, US Open) and a total of seven titles in 2024, had been assured since mid-October to finish the year at the top of the ATP rankings.
He is the first Italian to receive this trophy.
Before the ATP Masters, Sinner had more than 3,000 points ahead of his first pursuer, the German Alexander Zverev.
The Italian, who beat Australian Alex de Minaur in his first ATP Masters match on Sunday, succeeds Serbian Novak Djokovic, who has finished No. 1 in eight seasons, a record.
Respect of a great
The German Boris Becker, former world number 1 and present at the ceremony, assured that he “was not really surprised” to see Sinner at the top of the ATP ranking.
“It is true that there are (Carlos) Alcaraz and others, but Jannik will be No. 1 for a long time,” concluded Becker, who spent twelve weeks at the top of the ATP rankings, while Sinner has already spent 23 weeks.
But the Italian ends the season in the middle of a storm that could leave him without tennis starting next year and that has generated suspicions among many players.
After testing positive in March for clostebol, an anabolic steroid, he was acquitted by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA), but the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) appealed this decision and is demanding a suspension of one to two years.
