Sinner Moves Within Touching Distance Of Djokovic In Olympics Race

Novak Djokovic leads the Olympics Race ahead of every other ATP player with less than six months remaining before the showpiece event.

The 2024 Paris Olympic Games are set to commence on July 26th, but the tennis tournament will begin a day later on July 27th and run till August 4th. Because of this spillover in the dates, the Canadian Open has revised its schedule for the start of main draw action this year.

The singles tennis tournament at the Paris Olympics will be contested by a total of 64 players, of which 56 will qualify based on the actual ATP ranking of June 10th, 2024. The Olympics Race accrued points since mid-June 2023.

Djokovic leads the race, having recorded 7,360 points. In the past six months, he has been a runner-up at Wimbledon, winning the Cincinnati Masters and the US Open during his first trip to US soil in two years. Djokovic added titles in Paris-Bercy and the ATP Finals.

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But chasing him for that top spot is Jannik Sinner, who has moved up two spots to second. The Italian won his first Grand Slam title last Sunday at the Australian Open, beating Daniil Medvedev in the final. Sinner has accumulated 6,215 points.

He also won his first Masters 1000 title in Canada in the same timeframe when the Olympics Race was compiling points. Carlos Alcaraz drops into third spot with 5,080 points. Most of his points came from winning Wimbledon last summer and being a Cincinnati runner-up.

Daniil Medvedev, who lost his third Australian Open final in four years at the weekend, is in fourth position. The Russian will play under a neutral flag at the tournament despite the International Olympic Committee lifting the ban on Russian and Belarusian players to compete in Paris.

Medvedev will most likely have the company of Andrey Rublev, Roman Safiullin, and Karen Khachanov, who are ranked in the Top 56 and are currently the best four ranked Russian players. The rule stipulates that one country is allowed to field a maximum of four of its top-ranked players.

Ben Shelton has been the top-performing American man since the start of June 2023 and is in the Top 10 of the Olympics Race. France's hopes could rest on Adrian Mannarino, who is playing the best tennis of his life at 35. The wily left-hander sits in the 11th spot.

So far, China's Zhizhen Zhang is the one player who has qualified for the tournament courtesy of winning the Asian Games last year. The Olympic tennis event will be played at Roland Garros, which is home to the French Open.

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2024 Olympics Men's Race as of January 29th, 2024: