Sinner live World No. 2; Can he chase down Djokovic?

Jannik Sinner enters the BNP Paribas Open as the No. 2 player in the PIF ATP Live Rankings, moving ahead of rival Carlos Alcaraz.

One year ago, Alcaraz defeated Sinner in the Indian Wells semi-finals and went on to lift the trophy. The Spaniard is defending 1,000 points compared to 360 for Sinner. With those points dropped, Sinner has 7,910 points compared to 7,805 for Alcaraz.

This year’s Australian Open champion is also in the best form of his career. The 22-year-old is 12-0 in 2024 behind his triumph at Melbourne Park and title run in Rotterdam. Sinner has won 25 of his past 26 matches overall. Although he is No. 3 in the PIF ATP Rankings — the 52-week rankings — he is in good position to pass Alcaraz after Indian Wells.

The 2023 Nitto ATP Finals runner-up Sinner will begin his tournament against home favourite Marcos Giron or Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis. He could face 25th seed Jan-Lennard Struff in the third round.

One year ago, Sinner competed at Indian Wells as the World No. 13. Now Alcaraz will need to make the quarter-finals in the California desert just to have a chance of keeping Sinner from ascending to World No. 2. The Spaniard opens his event against a Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF alumnus: Matteo Arnaldi or Luca Van Assche.

World No. 1 Novak Djokovic is in good position to maintain his spot atop the PIF ATP Rankings in the near future. The Serbian did not compete in Indian Wells or Miami last year and is not dropping any points. He will play Australian Aleksandar Vukic or a qualifier in the second round.

With last year’s Indian Wells points dropped from the PIF ATP Live Rankings, Djokovic leads No. 2 Sinner by 1,765 points.

Several stars have opportunities to make moves with big results. Alex de Minaur, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Ben Shelton all lost in the second round last year at Indian Wells, giving them a chance to surge in the PIF ATP Live Rankings.

De Minaur is one of the most in-form players on the ATP Tour, having triumphed at the ATP 500 in Acapulco and reached the final in Rotterdam. The Australian is No. 10 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings, but within 470 points of No. 7 Holger Rune.

Tsitsipas recently fell out of the Top 10. However, the Greek, No. 11, is only 45 points behind De Minaur and can surge well into the Top 10 with a big effort in the California desert.

In recent months, a feel-good story on the circuit has been the resurgence of Grigor Dimitrov, the former World No. 3 and 2017 Nitto ATP Finals champion. The Bulgarian is live No. 12 and 365 points behind De Minaur. He is trying to return to the Top 10 for the first time since the week of 29 October 2018.

Shelton just became the No. 2 American and is live No. 16, three spots and 715 points behind American No. 1 Taylor Fritz, the 2022 Indian Wells champion.