Jannik Sinner, the Italian tennis star, has achieved his fourteenth consecutive victory, successfully making his way to the final of the ATP 500 in Rotterdam. He secured his place in the final after defeating Netherlands’ Tallon Griekspoor in the semi-final with a score of 6-2 6-4. Tomorrow, Sinner, who is the number 1 seed and currently ranked as the world’s 4th best player, will face the Australian tennis player, Alex de Minaur.
Regardless of the outcome of the final, Jannik Sinner is set to become the world’s number 3 tennis player, which matches the record of Nicola Pietrangeli as the highest-ranked Italian player in tennis history. Should Sinner emerge victorious against De Minaur, he would surpass Russian Daniil Medvedev to secure third place in the ATP rankings by Monday, February 19. However, even if he were to lose, he would still achieve his highest ranking the following week. This is due to the fact that Medvedev has already declared he will not be participating in next week’s 250 in Doha, thus forfeiting the points from his victory last year. On the other hand, Sinner does not have any points set to expire.
According to the globally recognized ELO algorithm, which calculates rankings based on the value of the opponents a player has faced, Sinner is already considered number 1. His victory over Griekspoor, whom he had previously defeated in Davis in Malaga, serves as further proof of his dominance. Despite Griekspoor’s strong performance and his ability to cancel out six break points, Sinner remained steadfast and demonstrated significant growth in service performance towards the end of the match.
The final against De Minaur will serve as a gauge to assess the gap between the two players. Despite De Minaur’s nickname “Devil”, given to him by his fellow Australians, he seemed to lack any formidable weapon against Sinner in their last encounter during the decisive match of the Davis Italy-Australia final. However, De Minaur’s agility, as shown in his semi-final match against Dimitrov, proves that he is not to be underestimated. The Rotterdam final is not an assured victory, but another stepping stone in Sinner’s journey towards becoming the world’s best tennis player, a prediction already made by the ELO algorithm.
