Sinner hoists trophy for finishing the year at No 1

Jannik Sinner was awarded the trophy for finishing the year at No 1 in the rankings before his home fans at the ATP Finals on Monday.

Sinner won the Australian Open and US Open for his first two Grand Slam titles. He mathematically secured the year-end No 1 a month ago.

"There's no better place to celebrate this trophy," Sinner said, as his mom, Siglinde, looked on in tears. "Thanks for all of your support."

The 23-year-old Sinner is the 19th different player to claim the year-end honor, and the 29th player overall to be ranked No 1 since the system was introduced in 1973.

"I think he's been the man to beat for a long time," said former No 1 Boris Becker, who took part in the trophy presentation. Becker spent 221 days at No 1 in 1991 but never ended a year on top.

Sinner beat Alex de Minaur in his opening match on Sunday at the year-end event for the top eight players, and was due to meet Taylor Fritz on Tuesday in a rematch of the US Open final.

Sinner is playing at home for the first time since it was announced before his US Open campaign that he tested positive in two separate drug tests this year.

A decision to clear Sinner of wrongdoing was appealed by the World Anti-Doping Agency in September. A final ruling is expected early next year.

The Italian succeeds Serbia's Novak Djokovic, who finished the year as world No 1 a record eight times.

Agencies