Jannik Sinner achieves unique milestone despite defeat in Rome Open final

Italy’s Jannik Sinner has achieved yet another milestone despite having a difficult outing in the final of the Rome Open. The 23-year-old, who is regarded as one of the best players in the world in men’s tennis in the singles category, suffered a defeat in the final of the recently concluded ATP 1000 event in the Italian capital to Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz in straight sets with a score of 7-6, 6-1.

Despite that defeat, Sinner remains the world number one. While doing so, he achieves a unique feat as he only becomes the fifth in the history of men’s tennis in the singles category to spend 50 or more weeks in first stint after becoming the number one player in ATP rankings.

1.     Roger Federer, 237 weeks [2004-08]

2.     Jimmy Connors, 160 weeks [1974-77]

3.     Lleyton Hewitt, 75 weeks [2001-03]

4.     Novak Djokovic, 53 weeks [2011-12]

As things stand, Sinner remains the number one player in ATP rankings with 10,380 rating points, 1500 more than his closest rival Alcaraz who is second with 8,850 rating points. Interestingly, the Spaniard will be defending his title at the French Open and a failure to do so would leave him further behind the Italian tennis star in the race to become the world number one.

Talking after the match, Sinner, who recently returned to tennis after spending three months on the sidelines, stated that he was happy with his performance. “First set for sure was a little bit of a game-changer,” he said as quoted by ATP's official website. “But talking generally, [I am] very happy about this tournament. It gives me hopefully confidence to play some good tennis also in Paris. Let's see what's coming out there. But after three months, coming here, making this result means a lot to me, a lot to my team also. We worked a lot to be here. Happy also with my family and everything.”