ATP Tour

Why Sinner remains in charge of No. 1 battle at Wimbledon

Jannik Sinner arrives at Wimbledon as the reigning champion and with 2,000 PIF ATP Rankings points to defend. Yet despite carrying the biggest points burden of any player in the field, the Italian remains firmly in control in the battle for World No. 1.

Whatever the 24-year-old achieves at the grass-court major this fortnight, he is guaranteed to leave London with a significant lead atop the PIF ATP Rankings.

Sinner is currently on 13,450 points and will drop to 11,460 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings on Monday when his Wimbledon points from last season come off. Even then, he is guaranteed to leave the All England Club with at least a 3,290-point lead over World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz, who will fall to 8,160 points after dropping the 1,300 points he earned at Wimbledon last year and being forced to miss this year’s event through injury.

World No. 3 Alexander Zverev has only 10 points to defend this fortnight. But even if he lifts the trophy, he cannot catch Sinner. The German would rise to World No. 2 with 9,180 points, still 2,280 behind Sinner even if the Italian suffers a shock first-round exit.

If Sinner can make another deep run at the grass-court major or even successfully defend his title, he will carry a healthy advantage into the North American hard-court swing.

Sinner's potential PIF ATP Live Rankings points at Wimbledon

Sinner lifted five consecutive ATP Masters 1000 trophies through the first half of the season, completing the Career Golden Masters in Rome. The 24-year-old suffered a shock second-round exit to Juan Manuel Cerundolo at Roland Garros and will compete for the first time since when he meets Miomir Kecmanovic in the first round on Monday. The Italian opens play on Centre Court on the first day as the defending champion

Daniil Medvedev is projected as Sinner’s seeded quarter-final opponent, with the Italian holding a 10-7 lead in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series and having won 10 of their past 11 meetings.

Sinner is also in the same half of the draw as Novak Djokovic, putting the pair on a potential semi-final collision course.

Sinner, who returned to World No. 1 following his victory against Alcaraz in the Monte-Carlo final in April, holds a 20-4 record at Wimbledon. The Italian has spent 77 weeks at No. 1 compared to Alcaraz at 66 weeks.