Sinner Ends Season to Treat Knee

Jannik Sinner, the world's top-ranked men's tennis player, said on Tuesday, 6 October, that he will not play again in 2026 so that he can have treatment on his injured knee. The 25-year-old Italian has not played a match since he won Wimbledon in July, and his decision takes him out of the last big events of the men's season (ATP Tour; AP via ESPN).

He made the announcement in a video on Instagram, the Associated Press reported. "Me, together with the doctors, have decided that I need a course of treatment on my knee, which means that the 2026 season is officially over," he said. "The last couple of years, especially the ending in Turin, gave me so many beautiful feelings and emotions, which this year is going to be different. But at the moment, I also need to think about my long-term career. I will do everything possible to get back to 100 per cent" (ATP Tour; AP via ESPN).

His management team explained the plan in a separate statement. "On the advice of his medical team, Jannik Sinner will follow a course of treatment for inflammation in his knee," it said. "The decision has been made to have the treatment now to give Jannik the necessary time to recover before beginning preparations for 2027" (AP via ESPN; Al Jazeera).

The absence is already long. In July, Sinner beat Alexander Zverev of Germany in the Wimbledon final to keep the title he won the year before. It was his fifth title at the four Grand Slams, tennis's biggest tournaments (ATP Tour). Since then he has missed the North American tournaments, including the US Open, which AP says he left because of a right knee injury, and the event in Beijing (ATP Tour; AP via ESPN). On Saturday, 3 October, he also pulled out of the Shanghai Masters, a title he won in 2024 by beating Novak Djokovic in the final. That tournament runs from 7 to 18 October, so it starts this week (ATP Tour).

Now the rest of his year is gone too. He will miss the Paris Masters and the ATP Finals in Turin in November, where the season's eight best men meet. Sinner has won that event the last two years without losing a set, and his record there is 15 wins and 2 defeats (ATP Tour). He will also miss the Davis Cup finals, the men's team competition between countries, where Italy are the hosts and have won the last three titles (AP via ESPN; Al Jazeera).

The injury ends a season that included a long winning run. Earlier this year he won five of the sport's top-tier Masters titles in a row, at Indian Wells, Miami, Monte-Carlo, Madrid and Rome. In that spell he put together a 30-match winning run, the longest of his career, which ended when Juan Manuel Cerundolo beat him in the second round of the French Open (ATP Tour). Even with that loss, the ATP, which runs the men's tour, has his record for 2026 at 44 wins and 3 defeats (ATP Tour).

The biggest question now is the No. 1 ranking. The Associated Press says Sinner could lose it while he is out, and reports that Zverev is "nearing the No. 1 ranking" (AP via ESPN). Two different tables matter here. Sinner still tops the official world ranking, which counts results from the past 12 months (ATP Tour). The ATP also keeps a race for 2026, which counts only this year's results and decides the eight places in Turin. In that race, Zverev, who won his first two Grand Slam titles this year at the French Open and the US Open, is 800 points ahead of Sinner, who is second (ATP Tour). The 800-point gap is in the 2026 race, not in the world ranking.

If he is fit, his next big target is the Australian Open, the next Grand Slam, which starts on 17 January (AP via ESPN). Neither Sinner nor his team gave a date for his return.

What a reader can take from Tuesday's news is simple. The world's top-ranked man has stopped, on medical advice, to protect his knee and his long-term career. He will not defend his title in Turin, he will not play for Italy in the Davis Cup, and he cannot add points in either the world ranking or the 2026 race until he plays again.