Sinner calls time on his 2026 season to treat his right knee

The world No 1 has not played a single match since 12 July, and he will not play another before 2027. “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,” Jannik Sinner says in a video posted on Tuesday on his social media.

A knee that rest alone has not healed

Sinner has been nursing the right knee since the Wimbledon final, won against Alexander Zverev on 12 July for a fifth Grand Slam title. Since then: no competitive tennis. He skipped the US Open, gave up defending his China Open title, then pulled out of the Shanghai Masters. His medical team describes inflammation in the knee and a course of treatment starting now, to give him time to recover before preparing for 2027.

Zverev 1,280 points off top spot

Sinner sits on 11,000 points, with Alexander Zverev 1,280 behind in the live rankings. None of the points Sinner won last autumn in China, Vienna, Paris and at the ATP Finals can be defended now, and the BBC judges his replacement by Zverev “highly likely” before the year is out. Winner of Roland Garros and the US Open this season, Zverev has the shortest path.

A return in Australia, says Gazzetta dello Sport

For the comeback, Gazzetta dello Sport, relayed by We Love Tennis, expects a return in Australia in 2027: three practitioners consulted by the Italian daily, rehabilitation doctor Melegati, orthopaedic surgeon Franceschini and the French surgeon Sonnery-Clotet, all recommend continuing conservative treatment. Sky Sports and the BBC are more cautious: no return before 2027, with no tournament named.

The season stops on 44 wins against three defeats in singles, five consecutive Masters 1000 titles between March and May, and a career Golden Masters completed younger than any man before him. “The last couple of years gave me so many beautiful feelings and emotions,” he says in the video, naming “the final in Turin” among them. That season-ending event is the one he will now miss. “I also need to think about my long-term career so I will do everything possible to get back 100 per cent.”