Jannik Sinner is the reigning World No. 1 on the ATP Tour, and one of his rivals, Daniil Medvedev, sees why he’s so attractive to fans and media.
There were World No. 1 players on the ATP Tour from a total of 14 countries. Some countries, had more players that reached the top spot, such as the United States, Spain, Sweden, Australia, and Russia.
All of these countries had at least three players that reached the World No. 1 rank during their careers, with Spain having four and the United States having five (the most out of any country).
For Russia, Medvedev was one of the three players who achieved this, alongside Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Marat Safin. On the other hand, multiple countries had only one athlete from their country reach the top of the rankings.
Chile, Austria, Germany, Romania, United Kingdom, Brazil, Czechoslovakia, Switzerland, Serbia, and Italy all had one player become the World No. 1, and it’s Italy that is the latest addition to this list, with Jannik Sinner, who became the World No. 1 player on June 10th, 2024.
Since then, he held the spot for 23 consecutive weeks, more than his rival Carlos Alcaraz, who stayed the World No. 1 player for 20 straight weeks during his first stint as the top-ranked player.
Sinner has confirmed his deserved World No. 1 spot at the 2024 ATP Finals, cruising past all of his opponents in the round-robin stage, including Medvedev, who he beat in the last match.
Following the loss, the Russian player was asked about Sinner, who now beat him in eight of their last nine matches, giving him all the credit for the season that the Italian has had.
“Look, he’s barely losing this year. If you want to win a title, you will face him at one moment. It’s not easy to beat him. A lot of people try. A lot of people fail. There is mostly one guy who does it a little bit more times than the others, and it’s Carlos. Yeah, I mean, he’s a very, very strong opponent.”
On top of that, Medvedev was also asked about all the attention that Sinner receives. The 2024 ATP Finals are held in Turin, Italy, meaning that the Italian player receives plenty of support from the home crowd.
There are multiple banners and promotions with his face all around the city, and it’s very difficult to miss the fact that Italy currently has the highest-ranked player on the ATP Tour.
Interest in the sport grew massively, and according to Medvedev, it’s all well-deserved for Sinner. The Russian player also named some of the qualities that the 23-year-old possesses that make his World No. 1 position stand out even more.
“Yeah, I mean, I think he deserves it. Like everything: the contracts, advertisements, whatever. He’s a good-looking No. 1 in the world, wins a lot of tournaments. Very young, which is always attractive. He’s 23. He has maybe 13, 14 years ahead of him where he can play, play, win, win. So it’s normal.”
