Jannik Sinner is even before the 2024 edition of the “masters tournament” the grandmaster of the year: with seven titles, including his first two Grand Slam crowns (Australian Open and US Open) and three Masters 1000 (Miami , Cincinnati, Shanghai), Sinner flew through the season.
First Italian at the top of the ATP rankings
It's very simple: he reached Turin with more than 10,000 points in “The Race”, the ATP ranking of the year which determines the eight participants in the Masters, or 3,000 points more than his first pursuer, the German Zverev , more than double than the 4th, the Russian Daniil Medvedev.
But if he marked the history of transalpine Tennis by becoming the first Italian to sit at the top of the ATP ranking or by ending a 48-year drought in Grand Slams, Sinner failed his compatriots again this year.
In May, the former alpine skier who grew up in South Tyrol, a German-speaking region on the borders of Austria, had to give up the Masters 1000 in Rome due to a hip injury.
“Nice pressure”
The tall redhead (1.91 m) with 17 ATP titles has never won a tournament at home. Just a year ago for his second participation in the Masters, he lost in the final to Novak Djokovic 6-3, 6-3.
In the absence of the Serbian, double title holder who withdrew due to injury, and at the end of his fantastic 2024 season, Sinner knows he is expected by the noisy crowd at the Inalpi Arena, but as often, this does not disturb him .
“Everyone in their job has pressure. My pressure is nice, I like being in this situation, because I worked a lot and made a lot of sacrifices to find myself here,” he said.
“All the qualified players are incredible, every match will be a battle,” warned the Italian after the draw which allowed him to avoid the Spaniard Alcaraz in the group stage.
Judging by the enthusiastic welcome Turin gave him on Thursday evening for the traditional gala evening, Sinner will have a pleasant week which will make him forget the more painful moments experienced this year.
What future after 2025?
The world No.1 found himself at the heart of a storm which could deprive him of tennis in 2025 and beyond and which has earned him the resentment of many players.
Testing positive for clostebol, an anabolic steroid, in March, he was cleared by the International Agency for Tennis Integrity (Itia), before being caught at the end of September by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) which made appeal and requests a suspension of one to two years.
“It’s not a pleasant situation but we remain positive,” he assured.
While waiting for the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) to rule, Sinner can add a check for 2.2 million euros (4.9 million EUR in the event of a perfect week) to the 12 million pocketed this year, without count the six million received for his victory in the Six Kings Slam, an exhibition tournament in Saudi Arabia.
Alcaraz, winner of the two other major titles of the year (Roland-Garros and Wimbledon) and world No.3, and Zverev, runner-up to Sinner in the ATP rankings who has just won the Masters 1000 in Paris, seem to be the only ones who can prevent his coronation.
The 2024 Masters, whose contract with Turin expires in 2025 and whose future will be clarified by the ATP a few hours before the final, are already historic before the first stroke of the racket.
For the first time since 2001, after Djokovic's withdrawal, the retirements of Roger Federer and Andy Murray while awaiting that of Rafael Nadal, no member of the “Big 4” is participating.
