By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Tuesday, June 4, 2024
Photo credit: Corleve/Mark Peterson
Before Jannik Sinner secured his semifinal spot, he scaled a massive professional peak.
Novak Djokovic withdrew from Roland Garros today due to a torn medial meniscus in his right knee.
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The Grand Slam king’s departure ends his reign as Roland Garros champion and as world No. 1.
World No. 2 Sinner, who swept Grigor Dimitrov 6-2, 6-4, 7-6(3) to reach his maiden French Open semifinal will supplant Djokovic as new world No. 1—and become first Italian to hold the top spot—when the new rankings are released on Monday.
“What can I say? First of all it is every player’s dream to become No. 1 in the world,” Sinner said in his on-court interview with ATP afterward. “In the other way, seeing Novak retiring here I think is disappointing. I wish him a speedy recovery.”
Continuing his season-long elevation, the 22-year-old Sinner said he’s thrilled to be new world No. 1 though he didn’t want to realize his dream on Djokovic’s injury.
While Sinner celebrates his rise to the top of the world, he targets two goals greater than world No. 1: improving as a person and as a player to fulfill his prodigious potential.
“It represents a great result of work ethic,” Sinner told Tennis Channel’s Jon Wertheim of his rise to the top. “It was one of our goals this year, but the most important goal is to always improve as a player and as a person, surrounding myself with great people and that’s it.
“I think I can be very happy and pleased with what I’m doing and what my team is doing. Just looking forward to semis at the moment. It’s not, for sure, the way I wanted to become No. 1 as Novak was retiring, but in the last period I played some really good tennis. I’m happy to be in that position. It’s something new coming up for me. It’s something good, so I’m very happy.”
Sinner will be the 29th man to hold the world No. 1 ranking since the advent of the ATP rankings.
The 22-year-old Sinner will ride a 12-match major winning streak into the semifinals against either Wimbledon winner Carlos Alcaraz or 2021 French Open finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas as Roland Garros is assured of a maiden men’s singles champion for the first time since 2016 when Djokovic defeated Andy Murray in four sets.
Australian Open champion Sinner improved to 33-2 in 2024, including an 11-1 mark on clay.
Photo credit: Corleve/Mark Peterson
