has ended his 2026 season early to treat an ongoing right knee injury, a decision that stops the world No. 1 after Wimbledon and leaves all but certain to finish the year on top of the rankings.
The 25-year-old Italian has not played a competitive match since he defended his Wimbledon title. He had already pulled out of the North American hard-court swing and the Asian swing. On Tuesday, he confirmed, in an Instagram video, that the shutdown is now official.
Speaking directly to fans, Jannik Sinner said the call was made with his medical team and with the years ahead in mind.
“Hello everyone. I would like to give you a little update. Me together with the doctors have decided that I need a course of treatment for my knee, which means that the 2026 season is officially over,” Sinner 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 way different, but at the moment I also need to think about my long-term career, so I will do everything possible to get back to 100%. I will thank you in advance for your support, and hope to see you very, very soon on court again. Ciao, ciao,” he added.
The five-time champion is a two-time defending ATP Finals winner. He took the title in Turin in 2024 and again in 2025 without dropping a set, and he is 15-2 at the season-ending event. Those points, along with titles in China, Vienna and Paris from the end of last year, will now come off his tally with no chance to defend them.
Before the knee forced him off the tour, Jannik Sinner had been the most reliable player in men’s tennis. He won 44 singles matches and lost only three. Between March and May, he took five Masters 1000 titles in a row, Indian Wells, Miami, Monte-Carlo, Madrid and Rome, and became the youngest man to complete the Career Golden Masters, the full set of nine ATP 1000 events.
That run included a career-best 30-match winning streak. It ended strangely at Roland Garros, where Juan Manuel Cerundolo beat him in the second round in hot, humid conditions. Sinner had already lost a five-set Australian Open semifinal to . He answered the Paris setback by defending Wimbledon, coming through a five-set first round in which he bled through his shoes, then beating Alexander Zverev in the final.
Sinner won six titles in 2026 across all three surfaces and lost only one singles match between March and July. His only meeting with Carlos Alcaraz came in the Monte-Carlo final, which Sinner won to take the No. 1 ranking. He finishes the year 10-1 against top-10 opponents. The lone loss in that group was the Melbourne defeat to Djokovic.
Jannik Sinner’s absence all but hands the year-end No. 1 spot to . The German, who won the French Open and the US Open in 2026, sits second and trails by 1,280 points in the live rankings. With Sinner unable to defend his late-season haul, that gap is expected to close before the ATP rankings are finalised.
Sinner’s message was that the short-term cost is worth the longer recovery. He has told fans he intends to return at full fitness, even if the road back starts only in 2027.
