ATP No.1 scenarios: can Alcaraz threaten Sinner's lead until the US Open?

Could there be a new ATP No.1 by the US Open? How many points do Novak Djokovic, Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz defend in the North American summer on hard-courts, that essentially sees 4 main events? Among the ATP Masters 1000 of Montreal, the ATP Masters 1000 of Cincinnati, the ATP 250 of Winston Salem and the US Open, the top three tennis players in the ATP ranking will have to defend several points: a situation that favors Jannik Sinner, at least until New York.

The ATP ranking currently says that Jannik Sinner is number 1 in the world with 9570 points, Novak Djokovic is number 2 with 8460 points and Carlos Alcaraz is number 3 with 8130 points. Remember that for the purposes of the ATP ranking, each year the points that were achieved last year in the same week are removed from the ranking of each player.

Sinner defends 1000 points in Canada since last year he won the ATP Masters 1000 in Toronto by beating Alex de Minaur in the final. As is known, the Canadian Open is played in alternate years in Montreal in even years and in Toronto in odd years. Then, arriving tired in Cincinnati, Jannik lost in his 1st round match against Dusan Lajovic, and therefore has only 50 points to defend. No Winston Salem while at the US Open Sinner defends 200 points obtained by reaching the round of 16 last year, where he was defeated by Alexander Zverev. A total of 1250 points to defend.

Jannik Sinner© Minas Panagiotakis / Stringer Getty Images Sport

Novak Djokovic on the other hand had not played the Canadian Open and will not play it this year either so he had zero points to defend. Then there are the important points for the Serbian, who had won both Cincinnati by beating Carlos Alcaraz in an exciting final, and the US Open, beating Daniil Medvedev in the final. The Serbian tennis player therefore defends 3,000 points – 1,000 in Cincinnati and 2,000 in New York.

Novak Djokovic © Getty Images Sport – Clive Brunskill

Alcaraz was eliminated in the quarterfinals in Toronto by Tommy Paul and therefore has 200 points to go that he will not defend since he will not be at the start of the Canadian Open. Then he has the final in Cincinnati and therefore there are another 650 points that he will have to defend. Finally he has to defend the semi-final at the US Open (800 points) in which he was defeated by Medvedev. A total of 1,650 points to defend.

Carlos Alcaraz© Clive Brunskill / Staff Getty Images Sport