Jannik Sinner becomes third-youngest player to win maiden tournament as ATP World No. 1

Jannik Sinner has won four ATP titles in 2024.

Italian tennis star Jannik Sinner has become the youngest man to win the first tournament he’s played as ATP World No. #1 since Pete Sampras, who was 21 when he achieved the milestone at the 1993 Hong Kong Open.

Sinner defeated Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz 7-6 (10-8), 7-6 (7-2) in the final of the 2024 Halle Open to win his first grass-court tournament. With the triumph, he became the third youngest and overall eighth man in ATP history to win a title in his first event as World No. #1.

Only Pete Sampras (21 years, 8 months) and Jimmy Connors (21 years, 11 months) were younger than Sinner (22 years, 10 months) when they reached the milestone.

List of players to complete the feat after rankings system was introduced in 1973

• Jimmy Connors (1974 Indianapolis)
• Bjorn Borg (1979 Monte Carlo)
• Mats Wilander (1988 Palermo)
• Stefan Edberg (1990 Long Island)
• Pete Sampras (1993 Hong Kong)
• Novak Djokovic (2011 Canada)
• Andy Murray (2016 ATP Finals)
• Jannik Sinner (2024 Halle)

After the win, Jannik Sinner lauded Hubert Hurkacz, who also played doubles with the Italian tennis star at the ATP 500 grass court event. Hurkacz won the Halle Open in 2022, where he defeated Russia’s Daniil Medvedev in the championship match.

Sinner said, “First of all Hubi huge congratulations for playing another final. 2022 you won here. Also to your team, you’re doing an amazing job. We’re very good friends off court. We played doubles in the beginning of the week. Seeing us play the final here is very special. Thank you so much.”

Sinner became the ATP World No. #1 after the 2024 French Open. Novak Djokovic, who failed to reach a final in 2024, was supposed to defend his Roland Garros title to retain the top spot in the rankings. However, the Serb withdrew from the quarterfinals of the clay court Major.

Thus, eventually, semi-finalist Jannik Sinner became the new World No. #1, while the 2024 French Open champion snatched the second spot in the rankings from Djokovic.

Nevertheless, Djokovic became the new World No. 2 after Carlos Alcaraz was eliminated in the second round of the 2024 Queen’s Club Championships by Jack Draper. Alcaraz was the defending champion of the grass-court event, and he lost 450 ATP ranking points with the second-round defeat.

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