Jannik Sinner surpasses three tennis legends in rare feat while not even playing

Despite not playing since the Wimbledon final in the summer, Jannik Sinner is still the world number one.

Sinner has been sidelined with a knee injury since hoisting his fifth Grand Slam title at the All England Club in July. The Italian was forced to keep delaying his comeback by withdrawing from tournaments before eventually shutting down his 2026 season for good.

Alexander Zverev will soon rise above him in the rankings and is set to finish the season as the world number one, but Sinner has continued to rack up weeks at the top spot.

Sinner has now increased his tally of total weeks at number one to 95, with his current reign lasting 29 weeks. At Sinner’s age, 25 years, two months and 10 days, only six players in history have racked up as many weeks at number one.

Those players are Jimmy Connors, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer, Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe and Rafael Nadal. On Monday, Sinner surpassed Novak Djokovic, Jim Courier and Lleyton Hewitt in weeks at number one by his age.

Sinner ranks 10th all-time in total weeks at number one and is not far behind ninth-placed Andre Agassi, who held the position for 101 weeks in his career. The all-time leader is Djokovic with 428, followed by Federer with 310.

Federer holds the record for the longest reign as world number one, having tallied 237 straight weeks from 2004 to 2008. Sinner’s longest reign was his first, which lasted from June 2024 until September 2025.

Sinner’s current reign will likely end after the conclusion of the Vienna Open, where Zverev can officially rise above him. The German needs just two wins in Vienna to secure world number-one status and will take on 20-year-old Martin Landaluce in his first match there.