Jannik Sinner’s absence from the ATP Tour has been extended by at least another month after he was forced to withdraw from the US Open due to injury.
The world No 1 has not played competitive tennis since Wimbledon with his last match coming on 12 July when he defeated Alexander Zverev in the final at the All England Club to successfully defend his grass-court Grand Slam.
Sinner was initially expected to return to action at the Canadian Open, but he withdrew from the ATP Masters 1000 event, stating he needed to “prioritise his health”.
“After carefully considering all the factors together with my team, we have made the difficult decision to withdraw from Montreal,” the Italian stated. “It is never easy to miss such an important event, but we believe this is the right decision to prioritise my health.”
There was no mention of any injury during the announcement, but Sinner was spotted wearing a knee brace during practice, raising concerns about his fitness for the rest of the North American hard-court swing.
Jannik Sinner News
And not long after he announced he would not play at the Cincinnati Open stating: “My right knee has been bothering me and even though we have been working hard with my medical team, I have to accept that I’m not ready to compete yet.
“I’m very disappointed not to be able to play in Cincinnati. I can’t wait to be back next year and I’m now focusing on getting ready for the US Open.”
And that was followed by the US Open bombshell this week that he would not play at Flushing Meadows due to the knee injury.
“We have been back on court in Monte Carlo over the last couple of days and have realised that I still need more time to recover from my right knee issue,” he said in a statement. “I’m obviously very sad and disappointed, as New York has a special place in my heart.”
What’s To Come For Sinner…
Sinner has played only nine tournaments so far in 2026 with three of them Grand Slams (Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon), six at ATP Masters 1000 level (Indian Wells Open, Miami Open, Monte Carlo Masters, Madrid Open and Italian Open) and one ATP 500 event (Qatar Open).
The five-time Grand Slam winner is next scheduled to play on the ATP Tour as he confirmed at the start of August that he would return to Beijing in September to defend his China Open title.
The ATP 500 event starts on 28 September so Sinner still has more than a month to recover fully from his knee injury and defend his 500 ranking points.
If he opts to extend his layoff, then he could return at the Shanghai Masters, which gets underway on 5 October, but there is no doubt the Italian would prefer to play a smaller event before an ATP 1000 tournament.
Sinner didn’t play any ATP events between last year’s Shanghai Masters and Paris Masters, but given his lack of action this year, he could well decide to make an appearance at Vienna Open or Swiss Indoors Basel (both start on 26 October).
The 25-year-old has 50 points to defend in Shanghai and 1,000 in Paris after winning the title last year.
The last tournament on his 2026 ATP Tour schedule is set to be the ATP Finals in Turin, with the season-ending event starting on 16 November.
Sinner successfully defended his title last year, beating Carlos Alcaraz in the final to finish the tournament unbeaten as he earned a maximum of 1,500 points.
