No 1 Club

How Jannik Sinner is outpacing all former World No. 1s

To say Jannik Sinner is enjoying a successful first stint at No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings would be a massive understatement.

Since climbing to the top of men's tennis on 10 June last year, the Italian has been nearly perfect. According to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index, Sinner's winning percentage as World No. 1 has been better than all 28 previous No. 1s in the history of the PIF ATP Rankings (since 1973).

Winning % As World No. 1 (Top Five)

Players	Record As No. 1	Winning %
1) Jannik Sinner	47-3	94%
2) Bjorn Borg	136-12	91.9%
3) Jimmy Connors	408-45	90.1%
4) Ivan Lendl	362-44	89.2%
5) Roger Federer	430-56	88.5%
6) John McEnroe	226-34	86.9%

Sinner has tallied a 47-3 record since securing top spot, giving him a winning percentage of 94 per cent. The sample size is small compared to others on the leaderboard, but he is certainly off to a hot start.

The 23-year-old has won titles at six of his nine tournaments: Halle, Cincinnati, the US Open, Shanghai, the Nitto ATP Finals and the Australian Open.

Only three players have won at least 90 per cent of their matches while World No. 1: Sinner, Bjorn Borg (91.9%) and Jimmy Connors (90.1%).

Not only has Sinner won an overwhelming percentage of his matches, but his three defeats have all gone to a deciding set. The lowest-ranked player he has lost to since becoming World No. 1 was then-No. 8 and eventual champion Andrey Rublev last year in Toronto.

The Italian has not lost a match in straight sets since the championship match of the 2023 Nitto ATP Finals against Novak Djokovic. That loss came seven months before he climbed to World No. 1.

Sinner's winning percentage as No. 1 is well ahead of the three other active players who are part of the ATP No. 1 Club: Djokovic (86.1%), Carlos Alcaraz (78.6%) and Daniil Medvedev (72.7%). It is important to note that Djokovic has played 513 more matches as World No. 1, but Sinner is off to a dream start.

The pressure of being the player the rest of the ATP Tour is chasing has not stalled his growth. Sinner has won a significantly higher percentage of his matches as No. 1 (94%) than he did before reaching the top (74.3%).

The San Candido native, who is up to 34 weeks as No. 1, is trying to become just the fifth player in history to extend his first stint to more than a year. Those who have previously accomplished the feat are Roger Federer (237 weeks), Connors (160 weeks), Lleyton Hewitt (75 weeks) and Djokovic (53 weeks).

Sinner currently leads World No. 2 Alexander Zverev by 3,695 points. He is next scheduled to compete at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha, where the action begins on 17 February.

Winning % As World No. 1 (Full List)

Players	Record As No. 1	Winning %
1) Jannik Sinner	47-3	94%
2) Bjorn Borg	136-12	91.9%
3) Jimmy Connors	408-45	90.1%
4) Ivan Lendl	362-44	89.2%
5) Roger Federer	430-56	88.5%
6) John McEnroe	226-34	86.9%
7) Novak Djokovic	485-78	86.1%
8) Rafael Nadal	268-44	85.9%
9) Pete Sampras	335-69	83.1%
10) Stefan Edberg	94-20	82.5%
11) Lleyton Hewitt	87-21	80.6%
12) Ilie Nastase	75-19	79.8%
13) Andre Agassi	107-28	79.3%
14) Jim Courier	79-21	79%
15) Juan Carlos Ferrero	11-3	78.6%
16) Carlos Alcaraz	33-9	78.6%
17) Boris Becker	14-4	77.8%
18) Andy Murray	30-10	75%
19) John Newcombe	6-2	75%
20) Gustavo Kuerten	46-17	73%
21) Daniil Medvedev	16-6	72.7%
22) Carlos Moya	2-1	66.7%
23) Andy Roddick	7-4	63.4%
24) Thomas Muster	5-3	62.5%
25) Mats Wilander	8-5	61.5%
26) Yevgeny Kafelnikov	6-4	60%
27) Marcelo Rios	2-2	50%
28) Marat Safin	4-7	36.4%
29) Patrick Rafter	Did not play a match as World No. 1

- Research provided by Jon Jeraj