Jannik Sinner. Robert Deutsch / USA TODAY NETWORK

Jannik Sinner making history with 2024 hard-court exploits

By Sai Mohan | Last updated Oct 14, 2024 4:18 AM ET

World No. 1 Jannik Sinner is becoming invincible on hard courts.

Besides capturing the two hard-court majors (Australian Open and U.S. Open) of the year, Sinner has registered wins at Shanghai, Cincinnati, Miami and Rotterdam, to go with his lone grass court title in Halle.

By steamrolling his way to the Shanghai title on Sunday, Sinner improved his 2024 win-loss record on hard courts to 45-3, with his only losses coming in the final in Beijing (to Carlos Alcaraz), quarterfinal in Montreal (to Andrey Rublev) and semifinal in Indian Wells (to Alcaraz).

Sinner's six hard-court titles in 2024 have placed him in an exclusive club of tennis greats.

5 - Jannik Sinner is only the fifth player aged 23 or under in the Open Era to win 6+ ATP titles on hard court in a calendar year after Jimmy Connors (1973), Ivan Lendl (1981), Pete Sampras (1994) and Roger Federer (2004). Wow.#RolexShanghaiMasters | @SH_RolexMasters @atptour pic.twitter.com/T9EeWKBSaL
— OptaAce (@OptaAce) October 13, 2024

Furthermore, Sinner has become only the third to win three ATP 1000 hard-court titles (Shanghai, Cincinnati and Miami) and two hard-court majors in the same year, joining Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer. The 23-year-old is the youngest to achieve this specific feat.

3 - Jannik Sinner is the third player to win the AO and US Open, as well as 3+ ATP Masters 1000 events on hard court in a season after Roger Federer (2006) and Novak Djokovic (2011, 15). Sinner is the youngest of the three. Leap.#RolexShanghaiMasters | @SH_RolexMasters @atptour
— OptaAce (@OptaAce) October 13, 2024

Sinner also became the youngest to win the Shanghai Masters and the second-youngest to win three ATP 1000 titles in a year.

23,58 - At 23y 58d, Jannik Sinner is now the youngest player to win the Shanghai Masters and the youngest to win 3+ ATP Masters 1000 titles in a calendar year since Rafael Nadal in 2009 – 22y 334d. Statement.#RolexShanghaiMasters | @SH_RolexMasters @atptour pic.twitter.com/GmSfxcNXmJ
— OptaAce (@OptaAce) October 13, 2024

With seven titles and counting, Sinner has also become the first player since Andy Murray in 2016 to win more than six events in a year.

Sinner will now look to continue his hardcourt exploits at the Paris Masters and year-ending ATP Finals in Turin, Italy. Along the way, he also has the chance to win a few ATP 500 titles in Vienna and Basel.

The Italian's incredible 2024 has been marred by doping allegations, however, with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) recently appealing a tribunal's decision to clear him of all wrongdoing after he failed two tests for a banned steroid earlier this year.

Sai Mohan

A veteran sportswriter based in Portugal, Sai covers the NBA for Yardbarker and a few local news outlets. He had the honor of covering sporting events across four different continents as a newspaper reporter. Some of his all-time favorite athletes include Mike Tyson, Larry Bird, Luís Figo, Ayrton Senna and Steffi Graf.

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