Rome, March 17 (LaPresse) – Jannik Sinner starts his 42nd week at number 1, one more than Andy Murray. When the Miami Masters 1000 concludes, Sinner will also surpass Gustavo Kuerten (43 weeks) and become the 13th player with the most weeks at the top of the ATP rankings since the computerized ranking system was introduced in 1973. The South Tyrolean, who leads a group of 11 Italians in the Top 100, will lose the points earned in 2024 at Miami, where he won the title (1,000 points), at Monte Carlo, where he reached the semifinals (400 points), and at Madrid, where he lost in the quarterfinals (200 points). Therefore, at the Foro Italico, Sinner will have 9,730 points in the ATP ranking. The two main challengers, world number 2 Alexander Zverev and world number 3 Carlos Alcaraz, have little chance, mathematically speaking, of surpassing him before the Internazionali BNL d’Italia. The conclusion of the first Masters 1000 of the season has elevated Jack Draper, who dominated Holger Rune in the first final between players born in the 2000s in this category of tournaments. At 23 years and 2 months old, the Indian Wells champion makes his debut in the Top 10 as the world number 7. Draper is the second youngest British player to enter the Top 10 since 1973, behind only Andy Murray, who achieved the feat at 19 years and 11 months on April 16, 2007. Novak Djokovic, despite his loss to Van de Zandschulp at Indian Wells, gained two spots in the Top 10. The Serbian, who holds the record for weeks at world number 1, will return to the court in Miami, where he shares the record for most singles titles (6) with Andre Agassi. Looking at the Top 20, notable mentions include the new career-high ranking for Frenchman Arthur Fils, who announced the end of his collaboration with former French Davis Cup captain Sebastian Grosjean. This past week also belonged to Joao Fonseca, who won the Arizona Tennis Classic, the Challenger 175 in Phoenix. He became the second youngest South American, behind only Juan Martin Del Potro, to win three Challenger titles, and the fifth youngest since 2018 to win at least two titles in a single season, joining Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Felix Auger-Aliassime, and Holger Rune. Among the current Top 100 players, several reached new career-high rankings this week: American Brandon Nakashima (32, +1), Belgian Zizou Bergs (51, +2), Frenchman Quentin Halys (57, +2), Fonseca (62, +18), Belgian Raphael Collignon (91, +2), and 19-year-old Nishesh Basavareddy from the USA, who entered the Top 100 for the first time (100, +1).