Jannik Sinner does something no Italian player has ever been able to do

There will be no drama heading into the ATP Finals in November as far as the year-end top ranking on the ATP tour. Any potential race ended after Carlos Alcaraz shockingly lost in the quarterfinals of the Shanghai Masters to Tomas Machac in straight sets. The Spaniard had a slim chance of catching Jannik Sinner in the rankings, but that hope is gone now.

Alexander Zverev also hoped to have a chance of finishing as the year-end No. 1 a month ago, but an illness kept the German from playing, so he was not going to be able to earn enough points to overtake the Italian. In other words, Jannik Sinner is guaranteed to be the ATP year-end No. 1.

He will be the first Italian - man or woman - to accomplish the feat, just as he was the first Italian to reach No. 1 on either the ATP or WTA tour. His best year has not come without quite a bit of drama, however.

Jannik Sinner guaranteed to finish as the ATP year-end No. 1

In March, Sinner failed two drug tests at Indian Wells and was not suspended. This was unlike the cases of other players, such as Simona Halep, who were suspended for a year or more immediately after testing positive for a banned substance. They then had to try to appeal their finding of guilt as if they were found guilty before being proven innocent.

Some, like Nick Kyrgios, have claimed there was a double standard in the case of Sinner because he was ranked so highly, and testing positive for something might have hurt how the sport was perceived. Still, the Italian is not out of the proverbial woods yet, as the World Anti-Doping Agency has filed an appeal of Sinner's innocence and believes he needs to be banned for at least a year.

Sinner will also break a long string of no one else finishing as the year-end No. 1 other than one of the Big 4 - Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, and Andy Murray. The last time one of those players was not the year-end No. 1 was 2003.

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