The Roger Federer record no one thought could be matched – until Jannik Sinner’s unreal 2024 season

Two Grand Slam titles, three Masters 1000 victories, a 73-6 win-loss record, year-end No. 1 and a Davis Cup title defence.

It was one of the finest seasons this century on the ATP Tour.

One of the most impressive stats behind Sinner’s 2024 campaign was that he didn’t lose a match in straight sets.

In doing so, he became the only player after Roger Federer in 2005 to go through an entire season without a straight-sets defeat.

Half of Sinner’s six losses in 2024 were to Carlos Alcaraz: at Indian Wells, the French Open, and China Open.

Each time Sinner won the opening set against Alcaraz but went on to lose.

He was also beaten by Stefanos Tsitsipas in the semi-finals in Monte Carlo, Andrey Rublev in Montreal and Daniil Medvedev in the Wimbledon quarter-finals.

Tsitsipas was the only player ranked outside the top 10 to beat Sinner in 2024 (Tsitsipas was ranked No. 12 in Monte Carlo, where he went on to win the title).

“Going into my off-season, starting next year, I feel like I have a good idea of what things I need to improve on, but I also feel like I’m playing very good tennis,” said Sinner.”Back when I was No. 5 [in the world], I didn’t feel like I was No. 5. Now I’m ranked where I’m at, I feel like I belong. It’s a different feeling. It’s been a great year. That gives me a lot of confidence to have that belief. That’s a huge part of having the big results.”

Sinner’s season stacks up with some of the best from the ‘Big Three’.

He became just the third player in history to win the Australian Open, US Open and ATP Finals in the same season, joining Federer (2004, 2006 and 2007) and Novak Djokovic (2015 and 2023).

He is the first player ever to win two Grand Slams, the ATP Finals and the Davis Cup in the same season.

Neither Djokovic or Rafael Nadal ever went through a season without a straight-sets defeat.

Federer’s 2005 season saw him win 11 titles, including two Grand Slams, and post an 81-4 win-loss record.

His only defeats that year were to Marat Safin at the Australian Open, Richard Gasquet in Monte Carlo, Rafael Nadal at the French Open, and David Nalbandian at the ATP Finals.