SINNER JOINS UNIQUE CLUB, 30 WEEKS AWAY FROM ECLIPSING HEWITT

A semi-final appearance at last year's French Open was enough for Jannik Sinner to claim the No.1 ranking (Getty/Tim Goode)

Closing in on a return to the ATP tour, Jannik Sinner has confirmed his place in history after the French Open concludes.

The Italian achieved the world No.1 ranking for the first time in his career on June 10 last year, and despite missing nearly three months of action due to a positive doping ban, the chasing pack have proven too inconsistent to catch him.

Since 1973, Sinner will become the fifth singles player in ATP rankings history to maintain the world No.1 position for at least 52 weeks at the first time of asking.

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Australia's Lleyton Hewitt is third on the list, and for Sinner to overtake him, he must hold the No.1 ranking until the first week of January 2026.

Roger Federer - 237 weeks

Jimmy Connors - 160 weeks

Lleyton Hewitt - 75 weeks

Novak Djokovic - 53 weeks

Jannik Sinner - 52+ weeks

Federer's phenomenal 237-week feat from 2004 to 2008 stands as the longest streak as world No.1 in ATP history.

The Rome Masters in the second week of May will mark Sinner's first tournament since defending his Australian Open crown in January after accepting a three-month ban for testing positive twice for an anabolic steroid.

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