The throne of men's tennis could host a new king by the end of the season: with the victory at Wimbledon, Carlos Alcaraz has put himself in an advantageous position towards Jannik Sinner - current ATP No.1 - and, by the end of 2024, the young Spaniard could snatch the leadership of men's tennis from his Italian rival.
Carlitos has managed the feat of winning 2 Slams in a few weeks, a result that only 5 other tennis players in history had ever achieved. The Spaniard's success has thus cast doubt on Sinner's primacy in the ranking and many users and insiders - via social media - have underlined how the Spaniard has won more important tournaments than the Italian. However, Jannik currently remains first in the ranking and has a reasonable margin over his rival, who is also behind Novak Djokovic.
It should be noted, however, that much will depend on the points to defend between now and the end of the season and, from this point of view, it will not be easy for Sinner. The Italian talent exploded in the second part of 2023, he began to win title after title and now he has several points to defend. If Djokovic has done even more than Sinner, the same cannot be said for Alcaraz, who has few points to defend until the end of the season and now has a great opportunity to regain the top spot in the rankings.
The Spaniard has only 2170 points to defend between now and the end of the season, few considering the many tournaments; between the US Open, 4 ATP Masters 1000 and the ATP Finals at the end of the year to play, Alcaraz can increase his points and not by a little. For Sinner, the situation is completely different. The Italian, who has 3370 points to defend, finds himself in a dangerous situation, as he will have to at least confirm the successes obtained in 2023.
1200 more points for Sinner to defend; more or less the advantage in the ATP ranking; from here it is clear that Alcaraz has a good opportunity. Very tough instead for Novak Djokovic who - from now until the end of the season - must defend 5370 points, impressive numbers and that - especially considering the trend of this season - he will hardly be able to repeat.
In the meantime Sinner has decided to take a break after the disappointing elimination from Wimbledon quarterfinals.
"I'm sorry to have to withdraw from the ATP 250 of Bastad next week due to too much tiredness. It's never an easy decision because I would like to play, but I will follow the advice of my team and the doctors who advised me to take some time to rest and recover. I hope to play in Bastad in the future. I heard it's a great tournament," with these words, through a story on Instagram, Jannik officially announced his withdrawal from the tournament in Bastad.
The Italian tennis player will therefore not play any clay-court event before the highly anticipated Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The fatigue suffered by the Italian during the two weeks at Wimbledon, playing for almost 15 hours, had a significant impact and forced the 22-year-old to make this choice, in agreement with the members of his team. Jannik will focus on recovering his energy in the coming days, with the aim of arriving in top condition in France. The defeat suffered after five sets against Daniil Medvedev will not be an easy one to digest, especially given the high ambitions that the world number one had for the London Slam.
Making everything more complicated in the quarterfinals were the physical difficulties, represented by an illness felt in the third set that forced him to abandon the court for 11 minutes before resuming play. From July 27 to August 4 it will be time to focus on the Olympics, among the goals at the top of Sinner's list for the 2024 season. The tennis player followed by coaches Simone Vagnozzi and Darren Cahill will try to win a medal.
It should also be noted that there is a fact that does not see the Italian shine in long-lasting matches. Since 2021, in fact, Sinner has suffered 7 defeats in the Slams, when the matches have become complicated and have lasted more than 4 hours of play. A worrying statistic that highlights one of the few aspects in which the Italian does not yet excel. Jannik has worked a lot on his athletic endurance, which has led him to achieve extremely remarkable results, but perhaps in comparison with his most accredited rivals, it is an aspect on which he can still improve a lot.