Masters of Paris: Where ATP No. 1 Club members shine

Alcaraz, Sinner look to join the list of No. 1s to win the indoor event

Getty Images

Pete Sampras and Daniil Medvedev are among the ATP No. 1 Club members to triumph at the Rolex Paris Masters. By ATP Staff

From the thunderous serves of Boris Becker and graceful volleys of Stefan Edberg in the 1980s and 1990s, to the relentless baseline dominance of today’s ATP Tour stars like Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev, the Rolex Paris Masters has long been a proving ground for ATP No. 1 Club members.

Since the tournament welcomed a new identity in 1986, nine different ATP No. 1 Club members have combined for 21 trophies at the indoor hard-court event. This year, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner will be among the favourites to join that elite list.

Djokovic, whose 428 total weeks atop the PIF ATP Rankings leads the ATP No. 1 Club, owns a record seven titles at the tournament. His most recent Paris triumph, in 2023, marked his record-extending 40th Masters 1000 crown. “This win is definitely one of the most special wins in the Masters 1000 category,” the Serbian said at the time.

Medvedev is among the ATP No. 1 Club members in the Paris field this year and the 29-year-old is in form following a title run in Almaty, his first trophy in more than two years. The 21-time tour-level titlist won Paris in 2020, staging a remarkable comeback in the final against Alexander Zverev. Trailing 5-7, 3-4, Medvedev won nine of the last 10 games to turn the match — and his season — around.

“Before the tournament I was not in my best form, playing not so bad with zero finals this year,” said Medvedev, who carried his momentum into the Nitto ATP Finals and won the year-end event two weeks later. “I was actually crying to my wife — not crying — but just complaining, ‘Oh my God, I don’t have the level, I don’t even have one final, I’m playing so bad’, bla bla bla… So finally, I’m the winner of the Rolex Paris Masters.”

A Paris victory has often foreshadowed success at the season-finale Nitto ATP Finals, Andy Murray demonstrated in 2016. Murray closed the year on a 24-match winning streak, capturing his lone Rolex Paris Masters title — which was also his final Masters 1000 triumph — before defeating Novak Djokovic in the Nitto ATP Finals, a match that decided the ATP Year-End No. 1 crown presented by PIF.

Roger Federer, one of the most accomplished tennis icons with 103 tour-level titles, found Paris a tougher conquest. He won the Rolex Paris Masters just once, in 2011, ending the season on a 17-match winning streak. “I have had many attempts to win Paris and, for some reason, I wasn’t able to. It’s a special victory,” Federer reflected.

The Rolex Paris Masters switched from carpet to hard courts in 2007, but even during the carpet era, conditions favoured heavy-hitting baseliners like Marat Safin, who claimed three of the first five titles of the 21st century (2000, 2002, 2004).

Safin also reached the 1999 final but fell to Andre Agassi, who, along with rival Pete Sampras, claimed multiple Paris titles in the 1990s. Agassi completed a rare Paris double in 1999, winning both Roland Garros and the indoor event in November. His first Paris Masters triumph came in 1994.

Sandwiched between Agassi’s Paris triumphs, Sampras captured the title twice. In 1997, Paris marked one of Sampras’ eight tour-level titles that year alone. In 1995, the American claimed Paris by defeating Becker in the final. Becker was the first player to claim three Paris titles (1986, 1989 and 1992).

Edberg’s aggressive game and exceptional net skills helped carry him to the 1990 Paris title. In a rematch of that year’s epic five-set Wimbledon final, the Paris final proved far less dramatic. Becker retired after just six games due to a thigh injury. It was the only retirement in Edberg and Becker’s 35 Lexus ATP Head2Head meetings.

Click here to read article