ATP: Sinner’s Australian Open Triumph Proves That He Belongs

Jannik Sinner caught the whole ATP by storm when he won his first ever Grand Slam in the Australian Open last week, which is an amazing achievement for someone who just turned 22 years old.

The young Italian international is now one of the hunted after Melbourne, although he still has a lot of catching up to do in order to claim the top spot in the updated ATP rankings.

In order to successfully do so, Sinner will have to go through the likes of Daniil Medvedev, Carlos Alcaraz, and, of course, Novak Djokovic by getting more positive ATP 2024 results this season.

Without further ado, continue reading below as SBOTOP reviews the current landscape in the ATP.

Jannik Sinner

Before winning his maiden Grand Slam in Melbourne, Jannik Sinner had been knocking on the door for quite some time now. Last year, his best chance of winning a Grand Slam was when he made it to the 2023 Wimbledon semi-finals.

However, he stumbled upon Novak Djokovic, who eventually defeated him in three sets. In the final round, Carlos Alcaraz managed to win his second Grand Slam.

After Wimbledon, Jannik Sinner went on to win the China Open and the Vienna Open against Daniil Medvedev but lost to Novak Djokovic in the ATP Finals.

And that is why his Australian Open triumph is something that he’ll never forget, especially since he won it in thrilling fashion by outlasting Daniil Medvedev in five sets.

Jannik Sinner was, in fact, in danger of losing his second consecutive finals appearance when he was down by two sets, but the 22-year-old showed immense mental fortitude by taking the next three sets for the comeback victory, making him the first Italian since 1976 (man or woman) to win a Grand Slam.

As of this writing, Sinner is still the fourth seed with 8,310 points, but he can make up ground if he somehow wins the Indian Wells Masters next month.

Daniil Medvedev

With his most recent finals loss, Daniil Medvedev became the first player in the Open Era to lose multiple grand slam finals, doing so in embarrassing fashion due to blown leads. However, he is still third in the ATP rankings with 8,765 points.

Daniil Medvedev hasn’t won a Grand Slam since the 2021 US Open, when he prevented Novak Djokovic from making history at the time. But since then, his best Grand Slam finish other than the most recent Australian Open was a semis appearance at the 2023 Wimbledon.

The 27-year-old can tack on more points in the upcoming events, but he has just withdrawn from the ABN AMRO Open in Rotterdam due to fatigue and a right foot injury, so he cannot defend his title.

Carlos Alcaraz

Perhaps the biggest threat to Novak Djokovic’s hold of the top spot is Carlos Alcaraz, especially after the Serb saw 1,200 ranking points fall off his record after failing to defend his Australian Open trophy. As a result, Alcaraz is now only trailing by 600 points.

February figures to be a busy month for the 20-year-old Spaniard because Alcaraz has 550 points to defend from tournaments in Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro.

And then, come March, he will also have to successfully defend his Indian Wells Masters title, which he won in 2023 by defeating Daniil Medvedev in the final.

If he somehow wins all of them, he’ll have a great chance to finally overthrow Novak Djokovic as the world no. 1, as per the ATP 2024 odds.

Novak Djokovic

During the Australian Open, Novak Djokovic shared that he was feeling under the weather for the most part, which is why it’s commendable that he still made it to the semi-finals, eventually losing to Jannik Sinner.

Djokovic can add more points by competing this February to extend his lead in the ATP rankings, but don’t be surprised if he sits out most of them.

Remember, Djokovic is not getting any younger since he’ll turn 37 in May, so it’s imperative that he’ll get to recharge his batteries ahead of the awaited Indian Wells Masters in March.

Djokovic was unable to play in the said event last year. He was denied entry because unvaccinated foreigners were not allowed to fly into the USA, so for sure he’ll be eager to get redemption when he returns.After that, Djokovic still has three opportunities to go get his 25^th career Grand Slam at Roland Garros, Wimbledon, and the US Open. The Serb is, by the way, the defending champion both at Roland Garros and the US Open.

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