"This year, it’s going to be impossible" - Jannik Sinner rules out battle for world number one spot in 2025

Jannik Sinner admitted that it would be 'impossible' for him to regain the world number one ranking from Carlos Alcaraz after he got one over his rival in the Six Kings Slam.

While the event in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh offered no ranking points, it was a key win for the Italian who has experienced prior struggles against the Spaniard in recent times, only picking up one win against him in 2025. This has played a factor in Alcaraz snatching the world number one ranking from him.

With their being a limited number of tournaments left to play in 2025, it seems Sinner is throwing in the towel for the number one spot. "For me, the end of the year is very important," Sinner said after the final. "I’m very lucky because the ATP Finals are in Italy and this gives me a lot of energy with my home people. This year, it’s going to be impossible."

Sinner first reached the pinnacle of tennis on the 10th June 2024, taking it away from Novak Djokovic who had held that title for 39 weeks. This was massively due to him picking up his first major at the Australian Open, fighting back from two sets down to defeat Daniil Medvedev, followed by a Masters 1000 title and two semi-finals. He continued his great hardcourt form into the US Open and ATP Finals, defeating Taylor Fritz in both to cement himself as the number one player.

Throughout this, there was the speculation surrounding him after he tested positive for a banned substance a couple of months after tasting glory in Melbourne. He would return at the start of 2025 to reclaim his title, but that was the last we saw of him until the start of May, with him serving a three-month ban.

While this all occurred, Alcaraz had suffered a slight dip in form which saw him end 2024 as the world number three. After the 2025 Australian Open, he started to find his best tennis again, picking up titles in Rotterdam and Monte-Carlo ahead of a clash against Sinner in the Rome Open final. After a close first set, Alcaraz romped to victory, starting a trend between the two which would culminate in Alcaraz stealing the number one ranking back.

They were both untouchable at Roland Garros, meeting for the first time in a Grand Slam final. Despite the Italian being 2-0 ahead and having opportunities to wrap up proceedings, Alcaraz found a way back into the match, eventually claiming victory in a final set tiebreak. While it was a damaging defeat, it was in hindsight another chance for the 24-year-old to gain more points, with Alcaraz having to defend all 2000 he won from the event in 2024.

The next big clash was a positive result for Sinner at Wimbledon, improving from his quarter-final from last year while making sure the 22-year-old dropped some points. Sinner would be coming into a key point of the season now with so many points to defend from a plethora of hardcourt titles claimed this time last year. He would have to defend a Canadian Open quarter-final, Cincinnati Open title, and US Open title while Alcaraz was defending a lot less. While the pair did not compete in Toronto, Alcaraz defeated an unwell Sinner in the Cincinnati final before once again producing the goods to claim his second US Open title.

As the Spaniard was only defending 50 points from a shock second-round exit the previous year, he gained a huge 1,950 points on his rankings, seeing him surge past Sinner who had lost 700 from losing that final.

Now at the current day, Alcaraz sits on top with 11,340 points compared to Sinner's 10,000. This could continue to change with the Sinner forced to defend a lot more points than Alcaraz in the ATP Finals. The race to the ATP Finals points tally also shows points tally that Alcaraz has gained on the four-time Grand Slam winner, with the Spaniard on 11,040 and Sinner sitting with 8,500.