Jannik Sinner is within touching distance of becoming only the second man in the Open Era to achieve a stunning feat.
World No 1 Sinner is one win away from joining Roger Federer as the only players since tennis went professional in 1968 to go an entire season without losing a singles match in straight sets.
Tennis great Federer set the milestone during his incredible 2005 season when he finished the year with an 81–4 win-loss record and now Sinner can equal that record if he wins his final match of the 2024 season on Sunday.
Sinner is scheduled to take on Tallon Griekspoor in the second singles rubber of the Davis Cup Finals between Italy and the Netherlands.
If he gets through that match without losing in straight sets he will equal Federer’s feat from nearly two decades ago.
Federer’s four defeats in 2005 were against Marat Safin (5-7, 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (8-6), 9-7) in the semi-final of the Australian Open, against Richard Gasquet in the Monte Carlo Masters quarter-final (6-7 (1-7), 6-2, 7-6 (10-8)), Rafael Nadal in the French Open semi-final (6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3) and against David Nalbandian in the Masters Cup final when he went down 6-7 (4-7), 6-7 (11-13), 6-2, 6-1, 7-6 (7-3).
Sinner is currently 72-6 for the 2024 season with all six defeats going the distance with four coming in best-of-three-set matches and two at Grand Slams.
The Italian lost three matches against Carlos Alcaraz as he went down 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the Indian Wells Open semi-final, 2-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the semi-final at Roland Garros and 6-7 (6-7), 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) in the final of the China Open.
His other three defeats have come against Stefanos Tsitsipas in the semi-final of the Monte Carlo Masters (6-4, 3-6, 6-4), against Daniil Medvedev in the Wimbledon last eight (6-7 (7-9), 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), 2-6, 6-3) and against Andrey Rublev in the quarter-final of the Canadian Open (6-3, 1-6, 6-2).
There is good news and bad news for Griekspoor ahead of his match against Sinner.
The Dutchman won the opening set against the Italian when they met in the round of 32 at the Halle Open in June, but that was on grass and he lost 6-7 (8-10), 6-3, 6-2. He also won the first set at the Miami Open, but again Sinner came back to win 5-7, 7-5, 6-1
Those are two of the five defeats that Griekspoor has suffered against the two-time Grand Slam winner as he also lost 6-2, 6-4 in Rotterdam this year, 7-6 (7-3), 6-1 in the Davis Cup last year and 7-5, 7-6 (7-5) in the 2023 edition of the Rotterdam Open.
Sinner steered Italy to the Davis Cup title last year as he won his three singles matches and also two doubles encounters.