Jannik Sinner thinks he has a pretty clear idea of how he can keep the world No. 1 position long-term as the 22-year-old Italian believes constantly improving and trying to always be a step ahead of the competition is the key.
After evidently taking his game to another level in late 2023, Sinner continued his rise at the start of the 2024 season and it didn’t take long before he became a Grand Slam champion at the Australian Open. A couple of months after landing his maiden Major, the Italian accomplished his next big goal and dream – he became the top-ranked player in the world for the first time in his career after the French Open.
And currently, Sinner has just over 300 ranking points more than world No. 2 Novak Djokovic and he is also around 800 points clear ahead of third-ranked Carlos Alcaraz.
“If you just want to hold the position, you have to improve. And if you want to get better, you have to improve more than the others. I think it’s a good balance of how much work you do and how much quality you can put in the work,” Sinner said in Cincinnati.
Sinner admits he doubted if he could be here one day
Before all of this happened for Sinner, he just wasn’t able to make it past the quarterfinal stage at the Grand Slam level as he was struggling to come up big in the matches against the top players on the biggest stage.
But that has been fixed and Sinner is now a top favorite for the title wherever he goes.
“We all have doubts. Sometimes, even before I won a Grand Slam, I had some doubts if I can win a Grand Slam or not. And then you reach the point where you win it. After, in your mind you know that you can do it, but you still have to work a lot for that,” Sinner explained.
Meanwhile, Sinner is back in action at the Cincinnati Masters after missing the Paris Olympics due to tonsilitis. In Cincinnati, Sinner is the top seed and has a first-round bye before facing either Alex Michelsen or Tallon Griekspoor.