The record of ATP points he set is far away Novak Djokovic in 2016 (16,785), but Jannik Sinner can now boast a historic brand. This Monday, after his victory at the Shanghai Masters 1000, he will wake up with 11,920 points in his ranking, a figure that only four men had surpassed, Djokovic himself, Roger Federer (16,010 in 2006), Rafa Nadal (15,390 in 2009) and Andy Murray (12,685 in 2016).
After a busy period since 2019, with 15 changes at the top of the list – Nadal, Djokovic, MedvedevAlcaraz…-, the Italian has established a dominance that will last. He has been the leader since June 10 of this year, mathematically the season will end like this and if he is not injured he will reach that position next summer. Despite having triumphed at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, Carlos Alcaraz, second in the ranking, has 4,800 points less, a huge number. Because?
Sinner and his success in the Masters 1000
First of all, because of the Italian’s consistency in the Masters 1000. Like Alcaraz, Sinner has won two ‘big ones’ this season, the Australian Open and the US Open, but during the rest of the season he has been more consistent in the tournaments that are just below in the order of importance. In March he already won the Miami Masters 1000, last August he repeated the title at the Cincinnati Masters 1000 and now he has triumphed in China: in total, 3,000 points to his name.
While Alcaraz resigned from up to three of those tournaments due to injury or fatigue – Monte Carlo, Rome and Canada – and fell at the first opportunity in another, Cincinnati, the Italian only missed Rome and in the rest he always reached at least the quarterfinals. . Having built his points margin at various times during the course, not just in a specific period, during a prodigious streak, it will be difficult to drop him from number one because he also has another support: the ATP 500. Despite his reduced importance for the count, both Minor titles and Sinner’s final in that category – champion in Halle and Rotterdam and finalist in Shanghai – make him even more dominant.
Alcaraz’s lack of motivation
But there is another reason why Alcaraz is far from the Italian on the list: his own motivation. Although he has once named number one in the ATP ranking as his goal, the Spaniard has not yet found the fire in that fight. As his team recognizes, he grows in the Grand Slams, where he finds great battles, but slips in the rest of the places. Despite his victory at the Masters 1000 in Indian Wells in March, this year in no other second-category tournament has he even reached the semifinals or experienced success in even smaller competitions. Until lifting the title a few weeks ago at the ATP 500 in Beijing, this year he added the semifinals at the ATP 250 in Buenos Aires and the first round at the ATP 500 in Queen’s, that’s it.
His lack of focus on the ranking is demonstrated in his dedication to the singles and doubles at the Paris Olympic Games – Sinner was not even there – as well as his presence in the group stage of the Davis Cup, where there was no other player from the Top 15. To assault Sinner’s reign, which is expected to be long, Alcaraz must first want to do it and then get to it.
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