Jannik Sinner hits 44 weeks as World No. 1 despite suspension, surpasses Guga Kuerten

After two months of suspension, Jannik Sinner has achieved a new milestone as World No. 1, surpassing the legendary Brazilian Guga Kuerten. The Italian has now completed 44 weeks at the top of the ATP rankings, despite being away from the courts.

This Monday marked two months out of the three he must serve following his controversial doping case. Sinner reached an agreement with WADA to avoid an appeal trial, accepting a three-month suspension that is now nearing its end.

The sanction was announced shortly after Sinner won the Australian Open title, and despite the significant gap in points he held over his closest challengers, Alexander Zverev and Carlos Alcaraz. Both managed to close the gap slightly, but as of today, the three-time Grand Slam champion still has a lead of over 2,500 points over second-placed Zverev.

On 7 April, Sinner reached his 44th week as World No. 1, becoming the 13th player in the Open Era with the most weeks at the top. Even off the court, Sinner had already surpassed legends like Ilie Nastase (40) and Andy Murray (41). Mathematically, he still has several weeks guaranteed at No. 1, regardless of his rivals' results.

Next on the list is Jim Courier, although surpassing him remains a tall order. The American, a four-time Grand Slam champion (Roland Garros 1991, 1992 and Australian Open 1992, 1993), spent a total of 58 weeks at the top between 1992 and 1993. For Sinner to reach that mark, he would need to remain No. 1 through the end of Wimbledon. For now, his large lead — during a part of the season in which he is not defending many points (at least compared to his own 2024 standards) — works in his favour.

After winning the Australian Open, Sinner reached 11,830 points — more than 3,500 ahead of his closest challenger, Alexander Zverev (8,135), and nearly 5,000 ahead of Carlos Alcaraz (7,010). With four Masters 1000s and several ATP 250 and 500 events ahead, there was a possibility that they could challenge his position at the top with strong results.

However, both have struggled with inconsistency in recent months and haven’t significantly closed the gap, even though Sinner has only lost points during this time. As of the week before Monte Carlo, the Italian leads with 10,330 points, followed by Zverev with 7,645 and Alcaraz with 6,720.

That means the German still trails by 2,685 points — a figure impossible to overcome before the Italian Open, where Sinner is expected to return. From that point on, closing the gap will become even more difficult, especially considering that in Rome, Sinner isn’t defending any points, while Zverev is defending 1,000 points from his title last year.