The grass-court season is in full swing, and Wimbledon is just around the corner, set to begin on the 30th of June.
Entering the championships as the first and second seeds will be Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, who are the heavy favourites to hold the famous trophy aloft on Centre Court at the All England Club.
Sinner and Alcaraz, who played out an all-time classic in the French Open final, are the top two-ranked players in the world and have split the last six Grand Slam titles between them.
The Italian has been world number one for over a year now, having held the position since June last season, when he became the first from his country to top the sport.
He remained ATP number one through his three-month ban from tennis, despite losing 1600 points.
Sinner still leads the way at the top, but Alcaraz, on a 15-match winning streak, continues to push for the spot he last held in 2023.
How close Carlos Alcaraz is to catching Jannik Sinner as world number one
Sinner currently sits atop the rankings with 10,430 points to his name, while Alcaraz trails behind with 8900.
The French Open champion could reach a maximum of 9300 points should he go on to win the title at Queen’s, where he is in the quarter-finals.
His rival lost 450 points after failing to defend his 2024 crown at the Halle Open, following his defeat to Alexander Bublik in the second round.
| Rank | Player | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jannik Sinner | 10,430 |
| 2 | Carlos Alcaraz | 8900 |
| 3 | Alexander Zverev | 6400 |
| 4 | Taylor Fritz | 4635 |
| 5 | Novak Djokovic | 4630 |
Despite continuing to close in on the top spot, the problem for Alcaraz arises at Wimbledon, where he needs to defend 2000 points in his pursuit of three-peating at the championships.
Sinner, on the other hand, only needs to defend 400 points, as he looks to improve on his quarter-finals finish from last year’s tournament.
Should Alcaraz emerge victorious in SW19, he will have a chance to finally clinch world number one status again during the hard-court season, where he’ll be able to pick up some big points, having suffered a dip in form at the Cincinnati Open and the US Open in 2024.
Carlos Alcaraz’s dip in form after Wimbledon in 2024
Following his second triumph over Novak Djokovic in a Wimbledon final, Alcaraz struggled to build on his momentum going into the hard-court season.
His first tournament after the third Grand Slam of the year was at the Cincinnati Open, where he faced Gael Monfils in the first round.
He lost to the Frenchman over three sets, crashing out of the event which he made the final of the previous year.
Alcaraz then entered the US Open, hoping to bounce back, but after winning his opening match, he was defeated by Botic van de Zandschulp in straight sets.
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