Jannik Sinner helped Novak Djokovic pass another Roger Federer record

Jannik Sinner has played a part in helping Novak Djokovic move ahead of Roger Federer in another area.

Djokovic isn’t at the Monte Carlo Masters this week, having already pulled out of the tournament. That decision opened up chances for other players, including Felix Auger-Aliassime, who put together his best run at the event by making it to the quarterfinals.

However, his loss to Sinner means Djokovic has now moved past another Federer milestone.

Djokovic is currently ranked world No. 4, sitting just behind Carlos Alcaraz, Sinner, and Alexander Zverev. He’s entering his 859th week inside the top five of the ATP rankings, matching the record previously held by Federer.

With Djokovic not expected to play again until the Madrid Open in a couple of weeks, there were questions about whether he’d still be inside the top five when that tournament came around.

The only two players who had a chance to overtake him before Madrid were Auger-Aliassime and Alex de Minaur, but neither managed to close the gap.

Sinner’s win over Auger-Aliassime has now guaranteed that Djokovic will remain in the top five for at least another two weeks, allowing him to surpass Federer’s record of 859 weeks in that position.

De Minaur also fell short in his quarterfinal against Valentin Vacherot, which means Djokovic will stay within the top four as well.

While both Auger-Aliassime and De Minaur are set to compete at next week’s Barcelona Open, they’re still too far back in the rankings to catch up with Djokovic anytime soon.

Djokovic Still Chasing Federer’s Top 10 Ranking Streak

With those results, Djokovic now holds the record for most weeks ranked as world number one, as well as most weeks inside the top two, three, four and five. But there is still one Federer mark that stands ahead of him: time spent inside the ATP’s top 10.

The Swiss legend remains clear in that category with 968 weeks spent in the top 10 – currently 31 more than Djokovic.

The earliest Djokovic could reach that milestone would be November 9, just a week before the season-ending ATP Finals.

There doesn’t seem to be much risk of him dropping out of the top 10 anytime soon. He currently has a healthy gap over world number 11 Alexander Bublik in the live rankings. The bigger question is whether he’ll play enough events this season to keep pace.

This will depend on how busy his calendar gets. He has about a thousand ranking points to defend during the clay swing and another 800 at Wimbledon.

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