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Italian joins elite company within ATP No. 1 Club
June 02, 2025
Jannik Sinner will spend more than a full year at No. 1 in his debut stint atop the PIF ATP Rankings.
Peter Staples/ATP Tour
Jannik Sinner will spend more than a full year at No. 1 in his debut stint atop the PIF ATP Rankings.
By Arthur Kapetanakis
Jannik Sinner today begins his 52nd week atop the PIF ATP Rankings and joins a select group even within the ultra-exclusive ATP No. 1 Club.

Just five of the 29 No. 1s in history (since 1973) managed to hold onto the top spot for a full year in their debut stint: Sinner, Roger Federer, Jimmy Connors, Lleyton Hewitt and Novak Djokovic. Only four others were No. 1 for an uninterrupted year at any point: Ivan Lendl, Pete Sampras, John McEnroe and Rafael Nadal.

Players whose first stint at No. 1 lasted 52+ weeks

Player Weeks Streak start
Roger Federer 237 Feb. 2004
Jimmy Connors 160 Jul. 1974
Lleyton Hewitt 75 Nov. 2001
Novak Djokovic 53 Jul. 2011
Jannik Sinner 52* Jun. 2024
Sinner debuted at No. 1 on 10 June 2024 after a red-hot start to the season and began his reign with a title in Halle. He extended his lead atop the PIF ATP Rankings by winning Cincinnati and the US Open, part of a 15-match winning streak that ended in the Beijing final.

The Italian rattled off 26 consecutive wins after that by winning titles at Shanghai and the Nitto ATP Finals, successfully defending his Australian Open crown, and reaching a home final at the Rome ATP Masters 1000.

For all his success, the Italian still has a long way to go to match Federer's first stint at No. 1. The Swiss legend spent 237 weeks at the summit from February 2004 to August 2008, the longest uninterrupted run at No. 1 for any player.

It All Adds Up

Jimmy Connors spent 160 weeks at the top spot after making his debut, owning No. 1 from July 1974 to August 1977. Had Bjorn Borg not wrestled No. 1 away from Connors for one week, the American would have reigned for 245 straight weeks on debut, because he immediately reclaimed top spot from Borg and held onto it for another 80 weeks through April 8 1979.

At the midway point of Roland Garros, where he was a semi-finalist last year, Sinner has a commanding lead of more than 2,500 points over No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz in the PIF ATP Live Rankings. Looking further ahead, the Italian will drop 500 points from Halle in June and 400 points from his Wimbledon quarter-final run. But Alcaraz will drop his 2,000 points from winning Wimbledon last year.

The biggest threat to Sinner's status as No. 1 will likely begin in August, when he must defend his haul of PIF ATP Rankings points from a torrid close to the 2024 season that included four titles.

World No. 1 ties Agassi, Becker, Wilander for ninth-longest major win streak
June 02, 2025
Jannik Sinner defeats Andrey Rublev on Monday at Roland Garros.
Tim Goode/Getty Images
Jannik Sinner defeats Andrey Rublev on Monday at Roland Garros.
By Jerome Coombe
Jannik Sinner laid down another major marker Monday at Roland Garros, where he blitzed Andrey Rublev to reach the quarter-finals.

The top-seeded Sinner prevailed 6-1, 6-3, 6-4 in a heavy-hitting clash under the evening sunset on Court Philippe-Chatrier, where he displayed scintillating movement and tactical awareness. Rublev stuck to his aggressive game plan, but Sinner offered no way through as he fired 25 winners en route to reach his third Roland Garros quarter-final.

“I’m very, very happy, because things can go quickly in a bad way, especially in best of five,” Sinner said in his on-court interview. “They can go so long, so I’m very happy to finish in three. Night sessions here in Paris are always amazing, so thank you all for coming.”


Rublev issued a statement in the opening game by striking three forehand winners to carve out two break points, but it proved to do nothing more than alert Sinner, who produced a trademark response. He saved each with some typically assured baseline hitting before racing through a 30-minute first set, which set the tone for the rest of the clash.

By extending his winning streak at Grand Slam events to 18 matches, Sinner tied Andre Agassi, Boris Becker and Mats Wilander for the ninth-longest streak in the Open Era. The reigning US Open and Australian Open champion is chasing his third consecutive major title, and first at Roland Garros.

Longest Men's Grand Slam Winning Streaks by a Player in Open Era

Player Streak
1 Novak Djokovic 30
2 Rod Laver 29
3 Roger Federer 27
T4 Jimmy Connors 25
T4 Rafael Nadal 25
T4 Pete Sampras 25
T7 Bjorn Borg 20
T7 John McEnroe 20
T9 Andre Agassi 18
T9 Boris Becker 18
T9 Mats Wilander 18
T9 Jannik Sinner 18
Known for his aggressive style, Rublev found little success against Sinner, who dismissed anything in his strike zone. The Italian went toe to toe with Rublev from the baseline before often earning the short ball and delivering a series of punishing winners from each wing.

Sinner, who on Monday began his 52nd consecutive week at No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings, will next play Alexander Bublik, whom he leads 3-1 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series. The World No. 62, Bublik earlier upset fifth seed Jack Draper to become the first Kazakhstani man to reach a singles Grand Slam quarter-final in history.

While Sinner was ruthless in all departments, he was particularly potent against Rublev’s second serve, highlighted by a blistering inside-in forehand return winner en route to breaking serve to clinch the second set. He also dropped just eight of 42 points behind his own first serve, according to Infosys Stats, during the fourth-round clash.

“We changed it before this tournament,” Sinner said when asked about his return position. “I felt like I was out of rhythm, so this [position] gives me more rhythm, trying to go more through the ball, especially on the first serves. On the second-serve returns, I try to change it up from the back and go in close. From the back it was working well today.”

By joining Frances Tiafoe and Novak Djokovic as the only men to reach the quarter-finals without dropping a set, Sinner also improved to 20-5 at Roland Garros. He reached the semi-finals last year but fell to rival Carlos Alcaraz in a five-set battle.