Sinner out of Olympics tennis draw, Alcaraz firms for gold

The 2024 Summer Olympics were hit with another withdrawal from the tennis event on Wednesday, with world No.1 Jannik Sinner pulling out of the men’s singles.

Sinner posted on social media to say that he had been advised by doctors not to compete, with the 22-year-old suffering from tonsilitis.

“I’m extremely sad and disappointed,” Sinner shared on X.

“Competing at the Olympic Games was one of my main goals for this season.

“I was really looking forward to being back at Roland Garros and playing for my country in this prestigious event.

“However, after seeing my doctors on Tuesday and waiting an extra day to give myself some more time to see if my condition would improve, things unfortunately got worse.”

Odds swing in Alcaraz’s favour

Sinner has been one of the top players in the men’s game this year.

He ascended to the world No.1 spot for the first time in June and has put together a brilliant 42-4 record so far in 2024, with titles in Melbourne, Rotterdam, Miami and Halle.

His withdrawal means the year’s other in-form player, Carlos Alcaraz, takes a big lead in the betting odds for the men’s singles tennis in Paris.

Alcaraz, Sinner and Djokovic were all locked on odds between +175 and +275 earlier in the week.

Now, Alcaraz’s line is a -125 favourite with Marantelli Bet. Djokovic’s odds have shortened as well, but not as much, with the Serbian only shifting to +250 in the outright market.

Sinner hopes for another Olympics opportunity

Paris was to be Sinner’s first Olympic Games, and the Italian shared that he was disappointed to miss out on the opportunity to compete alongside his compatriots.

“This is upsetting for me and I hope to be able to play the Olympics in the future,” he said on social media.

“I was looking forward to competing with my teammates and the rest of the Italian team, but for now that will have to wait.

“As advised by my medical team, I will now take some time to rest and recover to full health.

“I’d like to wish the whole team Italia the best for this important event and hope to be back stronger in the future.”

Race for year-end No.1 ranking heats up

Sinner faces an interesting next four months of the season.

This time last year, the 22-year-old struck a rich vein of form, beginning his ascent to the world No.1 position.

However, between now and the end of the year, he has 3,370 points to defend courtesy of his strong run in 2023.

Meanwhile, Alcaraz has just 2,180 points that will be dropping off between August and November.

This opens up a riveting race between the pair for the year-end world No.1 ranking.

Tennis bookmakers have the Spaniard as a +137 favourite to win the US Open, while Sinner is on the third line of betting at +225.

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