4 milestones Jannik Sinner achieved by winning ATP Finals 2024
Jannik Sinner's remarkable run of form continued as he won the ATP Finals by beating Taylor Fritz 6-4, 6-4 in the final. The Italian's run in Turin started with a win over Alex de Minaur. He then beat the likes of Taylor Fritz, Daniil Medvedev and Casper Ruud to reach his second straight final at the ATP Finals. Here, he once again triumphed over Taylor Fritz to win his eighth title of the 2024 season.
Sinner has already had an incredible year so far, winning two Grand Slams, among other titles. The 23-year-old is set to end 2024 as the World No. 1 with over 10,000 points to his name.
Jannik Sinner's exploits at the ATP Finals saw him claim quite a few milestones. So, without any further ado, let us take a look at four of them.
#4. 70 wins in 2024
Sinner's 6-4, 6-4 win over Taylor Fritz in the title clash of the ATP Finals saw his win tally in 2024 go up to 70 from 76 matches. It is the Italian's third victory over the American this year, having previously beaten him in the US Open final and the round-robin stage at the year-end event in Turin.
Sinner's 70 wins in 2024 include the Australian Open, the US Open and three Masters 1000 titles apart from his ATP Finals triumph. The Italian has lost just six matches so far this year and reached at least the quarterfinals in every event he has participated in.
#3. Youngest player to win both hard-court Majors and the ATP Finals
The Australian Open's surface changed from grass court to hard court in 1988 and since then, two Grand Slams have been played on the surface. Jannik Sinner's victory at the ATP Finals makes him only the fourth player to win both the hard-court Majors and the year-end championships, with the others being Mats Wilander (1988), Roger Federer (2004, 2006, 2007) and Novak Djokovic (2017, 2023).
The Italian is also the youngest player to attain this feat at 23 years and 93 days old, edging out Roger Federer, who was 23 years and 105 years old when he won the Australian Open, US Open and the year-end championships (then called the Tennis Masters Cup) in 2004.
#2. Jannik Sinner is the first player to win the ATP Finals without dropping a set since 1986
The World No. 1 did not drop a single set en route to his triumph at the ATP Finals and lost just 33 games. He did not drop more than four games in a set throughout the tournament.
Sinner started his campaign in Turin with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Alex de Minaur and follwed it up by defeating Taylor Fritz 6-4, 6-4. He then won his group after defeating Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 6-4. The Italian thumped Casper Ruud 6-1, 6-2 to reach the final, where he once again triumped 6-4, 6-4 over Fritz.
Jannik Sinner thus became the first player to win the ATP Finals without dropping a single set since Ivan Lendl's triumph in 1986. Lendl was the top seed at the tournament and won his group with wins over Yannick Noah (6-4, 6-4), Stefan Edberg (6-3, 6-4) and Andres Gomez (6-3, 7-5).
He then triumphed 6-4, 6-2 over Mats Wilander to set up a title clash with second seed Boris Becker. Lendl defeated the German 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to win the year-end tournament (then known as the Nabisco Masters).
#1. First Italian to win the ATP Finals
Only four men from Italy have had a chance to play in the ATP Finals over the years. Adriano Panatta and Corrado Barazzutti qualified for the tournament in 1975 and 1979, respectively, but neither were able to win a single match.
Matteo Berrettini was unable to reach the semifinals during the times he appeared in the tournament and neither was Jannik Sinner in 2021, when he won one match. However, Sinner reached the final in 2023 before losing to Novak Djokovic.
The 23-year-old then competed in the 2024 edition of the ATP Finals and won it by winning all of his matches in straight sets. Jannik Sinner thus became the very first Italian to win the year-end championships in Turin.
Sinner now has ten wins out of 12 matches so far at the ATP Finals.