Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic preparing to do battle

Jannik Sinner may be eyeing the ultimate coronation as the new world No 1 in front of his adoring Italian fans next month.

The battle for the top spot in the ATP rankings has taken a big turn in recent months due to Novak Djokovic’s increasingly limited time on the court, with most of the ranking points keeping the Serbian legend as world No 1 collected in the second half of 2023.

ATP Rankings are based on the points earned by the players over the preceding 52-week time frame, with Djokovic’s current total of 9,990 including the 2,000 ranking points he collected at of the French Open and US Open last year.

He also has 1,200 ranking points on his record from his run to last year’s Wimbledon final, 1,000 points from each of his wins at the Cincinnati and Paris Masters tournaments and 1,300 from his ATP Finals win in Turin last November, where he beat Sinner in the final.

All of those points will come off Djokovic’s ranking in the coming months and with Sinner a little over 1,000 points behind the Serbian in the current live rankings, he could be close to toppling him if he wins this week’s Madrid Open.

Sinner will be just 330 points behind Djokovic in the rankings if he wins in Madrid and that would give him a glorious chance to overtake the Serbian – who has opted against playing in the Spanish’s capital – in the Rome Masters event that gets underway on May 8.

The winner of that tournament will collect 1,000 ranking points and even if Sinner didn’t win the event, he could become take over as world No 1.

Djokovic has admitted he is no longer focused on the world No 1 ranking, as he has held that position for more than two years more than any player in history over the course of his remarkable career.

“It’s a matter of weeks before Sinner becomes world No 1,” declared Djokovic earlier this month. “This year the ranking is not my goal.

“He’s the strongest at the moment. He has shown it since the start of this season by being extremely dominant. The results are the consequence of the tennis he is developing, of the confidence accumulated with victories will become world No 1 if he manages to remain as strong.

“When you have a start to the season like that, you give yourself a good chance of achieving this objective, but it will go through the work which will bring the result which, itself, will bring the ranking. He certainly has other objectives before becoming world No 1.”

For his part, Sinner is always keen to play down the prospect of being Italy’s first-ever world ATP Tour No 1 player, but that goal is now tantalisingly close.

“I don’t like to talk about ranking. I just try to be happy on court and improve as a player,” said Sinner.

“That’s the only thing I can control and then the rest you cannot control the uncontrollable. So I’m happy that I’m [ranked] four at the moment. For sure, my dream is to become number one in the world, and I will work as hard as possible.”