NEW YORK (Reuters) – Factbox on Italy’s Jannik Sinner, who beat Taylor Fritz 6-3 6-4 7-5 in the U.S. Open final on Sunday to win his second Grand Slam title:
JANNIK SINNER
Age: 23
Nation: Italy
ATP Ranking: 1
Seeding: 1
Grand Slam titles: 2 (Australian Open 2024, U.S. Open 2024)
ROAD TO FINAL
First round: beat Mackenzie McDonald (U.S.) 2-6 6-2 6-1 6-2
Second round: beat Alex Michelsen (U.S.) 6-4 6-0 6-2
Third round: beat Christopher O’Connell (Australia) 6-1 6-4 6-2
Fourth round: beat 14-Tommy Paul (U.S.) 7-6(3) 7-6(5) 6-1
Quarter-finals: beat 5-Daniil Medvedev (Russia) 6-2 1-6 6-1 6-4
Semi-finals: beat 25-Jack Draper (Britain) 7-5 7-6(3) 6-2
EARLY LIFE
* Born in Innichen, northern Italy. Began playing tennis at age three.
CAREER TO DATE
* Began his professional career playing on the ITF Circuit in 2018.
* Won his first ATP Challenger title in February 2019, becoming the youngest Italian to do so. Qualified for the main draw of the 2019 U.S. Open, but suffered a defeat on his Grand Slam debut to former champion Stan Wawrinka.
* Won the 2019 Next Gen ATP Finals by upsetting Alex de Minaur in straight sets. Ended the year ranked 78th in the world, winning the ATP Newcomer of the Year award.
* Won his first Grand Slam main-draw match at the Australian Open 2020. He reached the quarter-finals of the French Open in 2020 by defeating David Goffin and Alexander Zverev before losing to Rafa Nadal.
* Won the 2020 Sofia Open, his first ATP title, and became the youngest Italian to win a tour-level title in the Open Era. Ended the year ranked 37th in the world.
* In 2021, he won the Great Ocean Road Open, Citi Open, Sofia Open and European Open and played in the ATP Finals as the first alternate. Ended the year ranked number 10 in the world.
* In 2022, he reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Open and U.S. Open. He lost the latter to eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz in a match that lasted five hours and 15 minutes, the second-longest in the tournament’s history.
* Reached his first Grand Slam semi-final at Wimbledon 2023 and won his first Masters 1000 title at the Canadian Open. He also reached a career-high ranking of world number four, becoming just the second Italian to reach the top five.
* Beat Novak Djokovic in the round-robin stage of the ATP Finals before losing to the Serbian in the final. Helped Italy to win the Davis Cup after a gap of 47 years in Nov. 2023.
* Beat third seed Daniil Medvedev to win his first Grand Slam title at the 2024 Australian Open.
* Tested positive for the steroid clostebol in two samples taken in March 2024 but received no suspension after the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) found the positive tests were due to contamination from his physiotherapist.
* Became the world’s number one ranked player after reaching the French Open semi-finals in June 2024.
* Beat 12th seed Taylor Fritz to win his first U.S. Open in September 2024.
(Compiled by Chiranjit Ojha in Bengaluru; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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