ATP Tour

On the path to greatness! Sinner cracks the Top 10 of weeks spent as World No. 1

Jannik Sinner is all set to carve out his legacy at the pinnacle of the ATP Tour. The Italian on Monday started his 81st week as the No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings, a tally which lifted him to 10th on the list of players to have spent the most time on the throne of men’s professional tennis. At just 24 years of age, Sinner has forged a level of maturity worthy of the greatest icons of the sport, amongst whom he now stands in his own right.

The 2026 season has so far been a testament to Sinner’s mental strength. The Italian reclaimed top spot in spectacular fashion, after having lost the No. 1 position to his great Lexus ATP Head2Head rival Carlos Alcaraz last August (following his US Open final defeat to the Spaniard). At the beginning of a stellar 2026 European clay swing, during which he would go on to complete the Career Golden Masters, Sinner won the Monte-Carlo championship match against Alcaraz to catapult himself back to No. 1. Since then, Sinner has strung together 15 straight weeks of dominance as the man to beat on the ATP Tour.

With his latest stint in top spot, Sinner has raced past Alcaraz’s 66 overall weeks on the throne and also surpassed such great competitors as Sweden’s Stefan Edberg (72) and the Australian Lleyton Hewitt (80), whom he overtook on Monday to become one of the all-time top 10 kings of the PIF ATP Rankings.

Already standing shoulder to shoulder with some true icons of the ATP Tour, Sinner would need to break through the 100-week mark to continue his climb through the ranks of one of tennis' most exclusive clubs. Next in his sights are Andre Agassi (101 weeks as No. 1) and Bjorn Borg (109), legends that he could draw close to this year.

Players with the most weeks at No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings

The coming months offer Sinner plenty of space to continue racking up his time at the pinnacle of the ATP Tour, as he is currently enjoying one of the greatest spells of dominance over his rivals. The Italian, who recently successfully defended his Wimbledon crown, has a 4,970-point lead over his closest challenger, Alexander Zverev, and is about to embark on a period during which he could accumulate valuable ranking points.

Sinner’s mind will currently be on the North American hard-court swing, where there is room for improvement on his 2025 results: Last year the Italian did not compete in the Canadian ATP Masters 1000 and reached the final at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Cincinnati and the US Open, while Spain’s Alcaraz – who has been out with a wrist injury for several months – will be defending points from winning the title at those latter two tournaments.

Sinner reached the top of the PIF ATP Rankings for the first time the week of 10 June 2024, his breakthrough season, in which he claimed his first major title at the Australian Open. His first spell as World No. 1 lasted 65 consecutive weeks, which is the seventh-longest run in history.

Editor's note: This story was translated from ATPTour.com/es