The Jannik Sinner situation is a mess. Not only did the current ATP No. 1 test positive – twice – for a banned substance in March, he did not face suspension which seemed to go against the usual tendencies of tennis officials. For instance, Simona Halep tested positive in 2022 for a substance she took unintentionally and she was nearly immediately banned for four years.

Thankfully, the International Tennis Integrity Agency came to its senses, realized Halep didn’t mean to do anything wrong, and lifted the suspension. Still, a year and a half of Halep’s career was gone. Sinner also appears to have taken something unintentionally, but he was able to play on as if nothing had occurred.

Sinner will have to give up the 400 points he awarded at Indian Wells in March as well as his prize money for the event – this seems odd, too, as he was ruled to have done nothing wrong – and that is where Novak Djokovic comes in. The ATP has decided to take away Sinner’s points currently instead of retroactively, Djokovic is losing out on an additional week of being ranked No. 1.

The 400 points at Indian Wells pushed Sinner over Carlos Alcaraz but below Djokovic. Fast forward to August when Sinner withdrew from the Canadian Open and dropped 800 points. Had the points been deducted from Sinner back to March then before winning the Cincinnati Open, Sinner would have dropped below Djokovic in the rankings for a week.

The Serb likely cares nothing about this, at least openly. He is so far ahead of every other player ever in terms of weeks at number one that he is in no danger of being caught. Still, numbers in tennis matter and the ATP loves to keep track of weeks atop the rankings. Djokovic deserves to have another week.

There is still a chance that the ATP could make the point deduction retroactive and Djokovic will get his week back. The issue could also blow over, of course. The more important problem might be how other players in general view Jannik Sinner now.

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