--- description: Find out why Jannik Sinner was selected for TIME‘s 2026 list of the most influential people in sports. title: TIME100 Most Influential People in Sports 2026: Jannik Sinner image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc0dad32239bb4529/6a2088bffc978a7d406f967f/T100SPORTS-2026-Web-Jannik-Sinner.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Jun 09, 2026 # Jannik Sinner by [Sean Gregory](/author/sean-gregory/) ## Sean Gregory Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent  Hannah Peters—Getty Images The emergence in recent years of [Jannik Sinner](https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2024/7023589/jannik-sinner/ "undefined"), the lanky Italian world No. 1, has all but ensured that men’s tennis will enjoy another rivalry for the ages. Sinner-[Alcaraz](https://time.com/collection/time100-sports/2026/carlos-alcaraz/ "undefined"), which has quickly become _the_ sports rivalry of the 2020s, could exceed even Federer-Nadal in generating intrigue. Sinner, who grew up in the Dolomites as a top-ranked junior alpine skier, began focusing on tennis at 13 and has won four of the past 10 Grand Slam singles titles. He’s incredibly consistent on the hardcourts—Sinner recently completed a “Sunshine Double,” winning the tournaments at Indian Wells and in Miami back to back in March—and in 2025 added a major title on grass to his mix, as he outlasted Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final. A doping case threatened to derail Sinner, who sat out three months last year after tennis authorities concluded he did not intentionally use a trace amount of a banned substance. That’s now in his rear view. Up ahead: more wins, more majors, more unforgettable matches. In May, Sinner became the first Italian man to win the Italian Open in 50 years, and the second man after Novak Djokovic to win all nine Masters 1000 events. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collection/time100-sports/2026/jannik-sinner/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collection/time100-sports/2026/jannik-sinner/"},"headline":"Jannik Sinner","datePublished":"2026-06-09T12:00:52.408Z","dateModified":"2026-06-09T12:00:52.612Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collection/time100-sports/2026/jannik-sinner/","keywords":["list","franchise"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc0dad32239bb4529/6a2088bffc978a7d406f967f/T100SPORTS-2026-Web-Jannik-Sinner.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sean Gregory","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/sean-gregory/"}],"creator":"Sean Gregory","articleSection":"Sports","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc0dad32239bb4529/6a2088bffc978a7d406f967f/T100SPORTS-2026-Web-Jannik-Sinner.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/sports/","name":"Sports"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collection/time100-sports/2026/jannik-sinner/","name":"Jannik Sinner"}}]}] ```