‘Divine’ Jannik Sinner (World No. 1, Italy) won the Men’s Professional Tennis (ATP) Tour Shanghai Masters by defeating powerhouse Novak Djokovic (No. 4, Serbia).
Sinner defeated Djokovic 2-0 (7-6〈7-4〉 6-3) in the singles final of the tournament held in Shanghai, China on the 13th. He took home the prize money of 1.1 million dollars (about 1.48 billion won). Sinner’s record against Djokovic was evenly balanced at 4 wins and 4 losses, with three recent wins in a row. Sinner, who confirmed his status as world No. 1 at the end of this year with a semifinal victory the day before, won his seventh singles title in this year’s tour tournament or higher.
Since the ATP Tour world ranking is determined based on performance over the past year, the world No. 1 player at the end of the year is the player with the best performance that year. He also expressed his regret over losing to Carlos Alcaras (2nd place, Spain) in the finals of the China Open last week. Sinner is the first time an Italian player has become world No. 1 at the end of the year in singles on the ATP Tour.
Djokovic was ranked number one in the world at the end of last year. Djokovic has ranked first in the world at the end of the year eight times, making him the record holder in this category. Sinner, born in 2001, had the best year of his life, winning two major tournaments this year, including the Australian Open and the US Open. On the other hand, Djokovic postponed achieving the record until later. If he had won that day, he could have set a record of 100 ATP Tour singles wins. Only retired Jimmy Connors (109 times, USA) and ‘Emperor’ Roger Federer (103 times, Switzerland) have achieved more than 100 singles wins on the ATP Tour.
Pi Joongang ([email protected])
