Jannik Sinner rises to tenth place all-time for weeks as number one, overtaking Hewitt. The next target is Andre Agassi, at 101
Step by step, Jannik Sinner is climbing the ladder to the tennis Olympus faster and faster. Above him, now, only the gods. But he too has very little left of humanity, except heat intolerance. But, records and trophies in hand, the blue tennis player seems to be a real machine, with an exceptional engine and aerodynamics that allow him to adapt to very different opponents and surfaces.
On Monday 20 July, the South Tyrolean began his 81st week as number one of the world in the ATP ranking. An achievement that is truly worth a page in history (and not just for Italy): the Italian has surpassed the Australian Lleyton Hewitt, who reached 80 after his triumph at Wimbledon, and now occupies tenth place alone in the all-time rankings for weeks spent at the top. Since the rankings have been processed by computer, i.e. since 1973, only nine other tennis players have done better. And they are the names that have made the history of this sport.
Who are the number one in front of Sinner
Look at the ranking all-time makes the level of the company manifest with absolute clarity. At the top are Novaks Djokovic with 428 weeks, Roger Federer with 310 and Pete Sampras with 286. Then Ivan Lendl at 270, Jimmy Connors at 268, Rafael Nadal at 209, John McEnroe at 170 and Björn Borg at 109. Sinner, at 81, already has the baby prodigy Hewitt behind him (who after two years of glory was supplanted by the advent of Federer. But Jannik, the mountain, wants to climb it to the top. He intends to build new peaks that have never been reached. And he is already looking ahead, above himself: the next name on the list is Andre Agassininth with 101 weeks.
Reaching the American today appears to be a feat within his reach. Sinner boasts around 5,000 points ahead of Alexander Zverevcurrently second in the ATP ranking, a distance which (barring any big surprises) suggests that he will remain at the top for some time to come. The solidity accumulated over the last few months, as well as the absence of his great rival Carlos Alcaraz (who perhaps will return to the field at the Masters 1000 in Cincinnati), makes the record solid. And so, hopefully, with the mentality of a phenomenon and the level of tennis he is demonstrating, the climb can continue, step by step.
