Jannik Sinner is the new world number one in men's singles after a particularly successful year. The Italian star is far from the only world number one in tennis to have played in Stockholm. This is shown in an exclusive compilation for the BNP Paribas Nordic Open website.

Since the introduction of computer rankings on August 23, 1973, 29 players have held the number one spot in the world rankings. Of these, a total of 22 have played in Stockholm at some point in their careers, as shown in the compilation below, where the world number ones are presented in chronological order.

* Refers only to the number of starts in the main tournament. For example, Roger Federer lost in the qualifiers in 1999.

Year-end World Number Ones

18 players have finished the year as world number one (Nastase, Connors, Borg, McEnroe, Lendl, Wilander, Edberg, Courier, Sampras, Agassi, Kuerten, Hewitt, Roddick, Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Murray, and Alcaraz). Of these, 14 have participated in the prestigious ATP tournament, i.e., all except Kuerten, Roddick, Djokovic, and Alcaraz.

World Number Ones for the Longest Time

Of the twelve players who have held the number one spot in the world rankings for more than 50 weeks, all except Novak Djokovic have played in Stockholm.

Participating World Number Ones

Since the introduction of computer rankings in 1973, the reigning world number one has played the tournament on 14 occasions as listed below.

1973: Ilie Nastase
1975: Jimmy Connors
1976: Jimmy Connors
1980: Björn Borg
1984: John McEnroe
1988: Mats Wilander
1989: Ivan Lendl
1990: Stefan Edberg
1991: Stefan Edberg
1992: Jim Courier
1993: Pete Sampras
1994: Pete Sampras
1998: Pete Sampras
2002: Lleyton Hewitt*

• World number one Hewitt was included in the draw for the 2001 tournament but withdrew before his first match due to a back injury.

Unofficial World Number Ones

Before 1973, there were mainly unofficial ranking lists compiled by tennis journalists, newspapers, and national associations. Some points-based lists existed for professional players during certain years, but these did not have the same significance as today's established world rankings.

Before tennis became open to both professionals and amateurs in 1968, separate lists were made for the different groups. During the three decades preceding the "open" era of tennis, the top professional players—with very few exceptions—were considered better than the top amateur players.

In the early years of the computer rankings, there were shortcomings, where some players at the end of the year were considered the best in the world without reaching the number one spot in the rankings. However, after 1977, there have been no such disadvantaged players, essentially.

During the Open Era from 1968 onwards, Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, Stan Smith, Arthur Ashe, and Guillermo Vilas have been regarded as the best in the world by various prominent tennis experts without being officially ranked as world number ones. All five of these tennis icons have played in Stockholm. Notably, Roy Emerson and Fred Stolle do not belong to this exclusive group. Both Australians played in Stockholm and were considered the best among amateurs during much of the 1960s, but they fell short compared to the best professional players.

Laver, Rosewall, Smith, and Ashe also played the tournament during at least one year when they were considered world number ones by the entire or parts of the recognized tennis establishment.

Summary

The table below provides a summarized view of the world number ones' presence in Stockholm.

* Qualified assessments were only made once a year and not weekly according to the current ranking system. However, it is reasonable to assume that Laver, Rosewall, and Smith were the best in the world for more than 50 weeks, which means that 14 of the 15 players who have been world number ones for the longest time during the Open Era have played in Stockholm.