Jannik Sinner experienced probably the most difficult period in his professional tennis career, and he was also punished, but he will not lose his World No. 1 rank at the 2024 US Open.
After reaching the 2024 Cincinnati Open final, the Italian player ensured that he would keep the World No. 1 rank on the ATP Tour at least until the China Open in Beijing, where he defends his last year's win.
After winning that final in Cincinnati, the 23-year-old ensured an even larger lead over his rivals, but everything changed only a few hours later when it became known that Sinner tested positive twice for a banned substance, clostebol.
The 2024 Australian Open champion said that he was contaminated by his physio, who was using a cream that had clostebol, an anabolic steroid, and contaminated him through a massage.
As a result, the ITIA found 'no fault or negligence' in the World No. 1's case, which meant that he avoided suspension from competing on the ATP Tour, which he was certainly happy about.
Still, while he found support from some of his colleagues, there were many ATP players who were not happy about how Sinner's case was handled, but he has yet to respond to those comments.
However, despite 'no fault or negligence' being found on the Italian's part, he still lost his prize money and points earned at the 2024 Indian Wells Open, where he reached the semi-finals, as that's when the tests were conducted.
"However, in line with the WADC and TADP, Sinner’s results, prize money, and ranking points from the ATP Masters 1000 event at Indian Wells, where the player tested positive in competition for clostebol, are disqualified."
In Indian Wells, the Italian player reached the semi-finals before losing to Carlos Alcaraz in a three-set battle, with the Spanish player winning with an inspired comeback, 1-6, 6-3, 6-2.
For that semi-final run, Sinner earned $325,000, which he lost, as well as 400 ATP ranking points, which were already stripped from his points total in the ATP Rankings.
Because of that, Sinner's total decreased from 9,760 points to 9,360 points, bringing all of his rivals much close. The closest of them is Novak Djokovic with 7,460 points and Carlos Alcaraz with 7,360.
Behind this duo is Alexander Zverev, who has 7,035 points. But the real fight for the World No. 1 spot starts at the US Open, where players lose points from their last year's participation.
In Sinner's case, that will be 180 points, which will now, after losing the points from Indian Wells, take his total down to 9,180 points. With their current points, both Djokovic and Alcaraz could challenge the Italian, but they, too, will lose points from last year's US Open.
Djokovic will lose the most, 2,000, for his last year's win at Flushing Meadows, taking his total down to 5,460 points, which means he will be far from contesting for the World No. 1 spot, regardless of his result in New York.
While Alcaraz's and Zverev's chances will look much better, they will still be unable to overtake sinner during the New York Slam, as even after the points stripping, he will stay too far ahead. Alcaraz will have at least 6,640 points and Zverev 6,475, which means that even if 2,000 points for the win, they wouldn't challenge Sinner.
Still, his punishment significantly improves chances of both players to finish as the year-end World No. 1, as Sinner's lead in the ATP Race significantly decreased. While he had 1,440-point lead over the second Spaniard, he will now have 'only' 1,040 points of lead ahead of his young rival.