The ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Rome is in full swing, and with the early exits of seeded players like Shelton, Mensik, Djokovic, Fils, and De Minaur, Jannik Sinner looks increasingly likely to reach the final without much resistance. This raises the question: where does Sinner rank among the players with the most ATP Masters 1000 singles final appearances in a single season?
Novak Djokovic holds the record with 8 finals in the 2015 season. That year, he was unstoppable, making the final of every Masters event he entered, except for Monte Carlo, which he skipped. His only losses came at the hands of Andy Murray in Montreal, ending his winning streak, and Roger Federer in Cincinnati. His other Masters results that year included victories over Federer at Indian Wells, Murray at Miami, Berdych at Madrid, Federer at Rome, Tsonga at Shanghai, and Murray at Paris.
Roger Federer reached 6 finals in 2006, winning four titles and finishing runner-up in two, both on clay to Rafael Nadal. Federer suffered only 5 losses that year, with four coming from Nadal and one from Murray. His Masters wins included Blake at Indian Wells, Ljubicic at Miami (in three tiebreak sets), Nadal at Toronto (his first win over Nadal that season), and Gonzalez at Madrid, which was still a hardcourt event at the time.
Novak Djokovic also reached 6 finals in both the 2011 and 2012 seasons. Similarly, Rafael Nadal had 6 finals in 2013, a year where he achieved a dominant North American sweep, finishing with 5 titles and 1 runner-up, along with a semifinal and two quarterfinal appearances. Nadal’s results included wins over Del Potro at Indian Wells, a loss to Djokovic in Monte Carlo, and victories over Federer in Madrid, Ferrer in Rome, Raonic in Montreal, and Isner in Cincinnati.
With Sinner having already announced his withdrawal from this year’s Halle event, and likely skipping tournaments like Beijing and Vienna to prioritize his schedule, the tennis world is watching closely to see how far he can go in the Masters series this season. What kind of historic numbers could he achieve by the end of the year? Only time will tell.