Jannik Sinner has officially withdrawn from the China Open, an ATP 500 event that the current ATP No. 1 won last year. He has missed every tournament since Wimbledon with a knee injury and has only played in one since the French Open in May. The Beijing event might not be the last Sinner misses in the rest of 2026.
Following Beijing is an even more important tournament: the Shanghai Masters. The China Open takes place from September 30 through October 6. The Shanghai event will be held from October 7 through 18. One would assume that if Sinner wasn't preparing to go to Beijing, he wouldn't be planning on being in Shanghai either.
There is some positive if the Italian skips Shanghai, though. He only reached the third round last year, so he doesn't have that many points to drop. He did win the Paris Masters, though, which means he will have 1,000 points to defend there. He also won the ATP Finals and earned 1,500 points.
Jannik Sinner drops out of the Beijing Open and the rest of his year could be rough too
Perhaps Sinner is thinking he will rest his knee for a bit longer and try to return by the time Paris begins, but he's had to miss the Canadian Open, the Cincinnati Masters, and the US Open, so he might not worry so much about the points. He might just want to get healthy.
If he does skip the rest of the season, he isn't going to be the year-end No. 1. He only leads Alexander Zverev by about 1,800 points currently. Carlos Alcaraz is third, but nearly 6,000 points behind. Zverev has a real chance to catch Sinner and finally reach No. 1.
The German also only reached the third round in Beijing last year, so he could pick up quite a few points with a deep run. Zverev made it to the Paris Masters' semifinals in 2025, so he could also pick up points there if he reaches the final. More iif he wins the tournament.
But it is at the ATP Finals that Alexander Zverev would really pick up points. He didn't get out of the round-robin in 2025, so if he were to even make the finals, he could close the gap in ranking points with Sinner, whether Sinner plays or not.
Jannik Sinner has already missed many high-end tournaments and will likely miss more before the year ends. Along with losing potential titles, he is also probably going to lose his No. 1 ranking to Zverev, for better or worse for tennis.
