Jannik Sinner aims for the top ranking once again, and it has been within his reach after Alexander Zverev’s exit at the Monte Carlo Masters.
The World No. 1 has accepted a three-month suspension from tennis as imposed by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in February. With this, the athlete is getting ready for his return to the sport as he prepares in Monaco.
With this, Sinner has probably been keeping an eye on his toughest competitors, World No. 2 Alexander Zverev and World No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz. However, Zverev was defeated by Matteo Berrettini in Monte Carlo, a close friend of Sinner’s.
Sinner’s comeback
After a series of underwhelming plays from Zverev following his loss to Sinner in the Australian Open final, there has been a key development to the ATP rankings.
Currently, Sinner is ahead of Zverev by a total number of 2,335 points and Alcaraz by 3,200 points. With the results, Sinner will undoubtedly retain his spot as world number one, regardless of any results of the lead-up to his return.
The top athlete is scheduled to make his comeback at the Italian Open on May 7. This tournament is his home ATP Masters 1000 event. Moreover, he will make history as the first Italian player to play in the Rome Masters as the world number one.
Furthermore, Zverev’s hold on the world number two spot is also becoming uncertain. If Alcaraz wins the Monte Carlo Masters, he will be ahead of Zverev and claim his ranking.
However, this result seems like a long shot at the moment. Alcaraz has yet to secure a single victory at the Monte Carlo Masters in his career.
Sinner and the Italian Open
The Italian Open is one of Sinner’s less successful Masters 1000 tournaments, even though he has been a fan favourite at the event.
Sinner made his ATP main draw debut at the said competition in 2019 at 17. He was defeated by Stefanos Tsitsipas in the second round the same year. Eventually, Sinner managed to get his payback on Tsitsipas the year after and earned his second career top-10 victory back then.
Sinner also had the chance to battle against tennis legend Rafael Nadal in Rome, but was defeated during the 2021 tournament.
His best performance at the Italian Open was in 2022 when he reached the quarter-finals but was then defeated by Tsitsipas once again.
Sinner was not able to play in the Italian Open last year due to an injury.
Although he is uncomfortable on clay, many are pushing Sinner to clinch the Roland Garros title to make a stunning comeback to the sport.
In a social media post by the athlete, he shared a snippet of his practice back in February and said, “Back on the court 🎾🎾”
View this post on Instagram
In the same post, netizens expressed their feelings as Sinner’s absence was felt in the past few tournaments.
One netizen commented, “Tennis is not interesting without you🥲 Let’s go for RG! Forza❤️🇮🇹🦊”
Most of his fans said that they couldn’t wait to see him again on the court and tennis is just not the sport they love without him.
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