Jannik Sinner will be itching to get back to playing after seeing Alexander Zverev close the gap on him in the No 1 ranking race.

The 25-year-old defended his Wimbledon title in July but then missed Canada, Cincinnati and the US Open with a knee injury.

In his absence, Zverev has just won the US Open, which saw him close to within 1,810 points of the Italian in the rankings, but in the ATP Tour Race, the 29-year-old now leads by 700 points.

There is a real danger that the five-time major winner could be pipped by the German for the year-end No 1 ranking, with many eager to know when Sinner will be back on tour.

The 6ft 3in player is not part of Europe’s lineup for the Laver Cup, which runs between 25-27 September, but world No 3 Carlos Alcaraz and Zverev are included.

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According to Sky Sports Italy, Sinner has had three weeks of treatment on his inflamed tendon at J Medical in Turin and is set to resume training soon.

The report adds that Sinner’s goal is to compete at the ATP 500 event in Beijing, which begins on 30 September. Last year, he comfortably beat Learner Tien in the final.

However, the ‘priority’ is to make a ‘full recovery’. Therefore, he may return for the Shanghai Masters on 7 October.

Incidentally, on Monday, the ATP Tour announced that Sinner would defend his ATP 500 title in Vienna, which runs from 24 October to 1 November.

He is aiming to become just the second player to win three Vienna crowns after former world No 3 Brian Gottfried, who won the event four times.

Sinner holds a 17-4 record in Vienna and will line up against players such as Zverev, Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev, all of whom have won this tournament before.

If the newly-crowned US Open champion does appear at the Austrian tournament, the battle for the No 1 ranking could really heat up. He and Zverev out an entertaining three-set match in the 2025 Vienna final, with Sinner eventually coming out on top 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.

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