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The victory of Jannik Sinner at the ABN AMRO Open, ATP 500 played on the Rotterdam hard-courts, allowed the young Italian to equal a statistic that only the Big 3 Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer had in common. And not only.
The Dutch ATP 500 is the second tournament won by the Italian tennis player after the Australian Open: two events played and two tournaments won for Sinner, who is undefeated in 2024. Sinner is also the first tennis player, after 23 years, to win a title immediately after winning his first Major. Guess who was the last to do it?
Jannik Sinner è il primo tennista, dopo 23 anni, a vincere il torneo successivo alla conquista del primo Slam in carriera 🏆 #Sinner #EurosportTENNIS #Rotterdam pic.twitter.com/RFBR7ZtPEx
— Eurosport IT (@Eurosport_IT) February 18, 2024
Jannik Sinner 🇮🇹 è il primo giocatore dal 2001 a vincere un titolo ATP subito dopo aver vinto il suo primo Slam.
— Giovanni Pelazzo (@giovannipelazzo) February 18, 2024
L'ultimo a riuscirci era stato Lleyton Hewitt, oltre 20 anni fa.
Non ci erano riusciti, tanto per fare tre nomi, Federer, Nadal né Djokovic.pic.twitter.com/hTTFGuB7nK
12 matches played in official tournaments and 12 victories. In the last 10 years only the Big 3 have managed to make a start to the season like this. Only the three tennis players who have literally dominated tennis in the last 20 years have reached this milestone.
Jannik Sinner's run since Beijing makes no sense.
— Relevant Tennis (@RelevantTennis) February 18, 2024
WWWWWWWLWWWWWWWWWWLWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWpic.twitter.com/pgXI5lkzK7
Only Djokovic, Federer and Nadal made it before Sinner
Novak Djokovic has achieved this record several times and has also gone much further. Nole he has succeeded three times in the last 10 years. It happened in 2016 when he won in Doha and then at the Australian Open with the series interrupted at 14 successes, by retiring in the quarter-finals in Dubai against Feliciano Lopez. It happened in 2020, when he won - in the very particular year characterized by the Covid-ATP Cup and Australian Open as well as Dubai, before the suspension of tournaments due to the pandemic.
And again in 2023 when he won Adelaide and the Australian Open before losing in the semi-final in Dubai to Medvedev, after 15 successes in a row. But going a moment further back than the 10 years considered, Novak Djokovic is also the holder of a record that currently seems very difficult to beat: in 2011 he even had a 41-0 start.
41 successes in a row (2 matches were not played due to the withdrawal of the opponent) without defeats, winning the Australian Open, Dubai, Indian Wells, Miami, Belgrade, Madrid and Rome before losing in the semi-final at Roland Garros to Roger Federer.
Roger Federer who achieved this goal in 2018. The Swiss won the Australian Open therefore seven matches and, exactly like Sinner, he already won Rotterdam, collecting another 5 successes. The streak was interrupted after 17 consecutive victories in the Indian Wells final, when Roger was defeated by Del Potro.
Rafael Nadal, in 2022, won the first twelve official matches of his season. He won the ATP 250 tournament in Melbourne, the Australian Open and Acapulco. The series ended in the final at Indian Wells at the hands of Taylor Fritz, after 21 successes in a row.