Roger Federer used to begin every year with two main goals: to win his beloved Wimbledon and to finish the year ranked world No 1. Lofty goals for most, realistic aims for a man who ended up winning Wimbledon eight times, second only to Martina Navratilova, and who topped the year-end rankings five times.

Until the establishment of the ATP rankings in August 1973, the world rankings were an informal affair, decided by national associations, Tours, and—it hardly seems possible to imagine now—a small group of revered journalists. Not the most objective of arrangements.

While the old system was a constant source of argument, the new rankings held immediate credibility and prestige, providing players with a new goal that really meant something. Finishing the year ranked No. 1 was indisputable proof of who was the best player of that year. Ilie Nastase was the first man to earn the honor, in 1973, and only 18 other men have ever managed it, an elite band.

The race to end the year on top has seen many players make superhuman efforts, crisscrossing the world in the chase, knowing that their place in history would be assured if they could be No. 1 when the year ended. Take Pete Sampras. The American finished as world No. 1 for six straight years in the 1990s, an all the more remarkable statistic when you remember that he picked up very few points on clay. In 1998, he was so desperate to finish No. 1 for the sixth year in a row that he played six events between the U.S. Open and the season-ending ATP World Championships, as it was called then, edging out Marcelo Rios, the talented Chilean, to stay top dog.

“To get to No. 1 is one thing; but to stay there is another thing,” Sampras said at the time, having clinched the year-end ranking at the ATP World Championships in Hanover when Rios, exhausted and injured, pulled out before his first match. “It’s twice as hard. To have stayed on top for most of my career is a little overwhelming. You see many players in the past have not handled the pressure or not enjoyed it. I’m very comfortable being No. 1, and that helps.”

Novak Djokovic holds the record for the most years at No. 1 overall, with eight, but no one has come close to matching Sampras’ run of six on the bounce. I remember how physically and emotionally tired he was when he first chatted to the media in Hanover in 1998—the first time I covered the season-ending event myself—but the effort was worth it as he set a record that he feels may never be broken.

Andy Murray followed Sampras’ example when he ended the year ranked No. 1—for the first and only time—in 2016, winning five titles in a row to pip Djokovic for the honor, sealing the deal when he beat him in the final. Murray’s hip gave out midway through the following year, but even now he will say that finishing No. 1 meant everything. John McEnroe, who managed it four times, always said it was validation of a whole year’s results, showing, without doubt, who was the best.

In this era of instant gratification, it’s somehow reassuring that today’s top players also see ending the year at No. 1 as something worth the effort. Carlos Alcaraz’s victory over Jannik Sinner in the U.S. Open final gave him a commanding lead over the Italian going into the Asian swing of events, but there is still some work to be done if he is to become just the 11th man to finish a year at No. 1 more than once, having done so for the first time in 2022, after his breakthrough Slam win in New York.

It would be no surprise, though, should Sinner end the season on a charge. The fact that the ATP Finals are again held on home soil in Turin this year is an obvious incentive for him to finish the year strong, and the 24-year-old, who took his Grand Slam tally to four in 2025 thanks to wins in Melbourne and at Wimbledon, remembers the “special feeling” he experienced when finishing No. 1 for the first time at the end of 2024.

Providing Alcaraz stays healthy, it will take a herculean effort for Sinner to overhaul the almost 2,600-point lead the Spaniard had in the ATP Race—the calendar-year standings—going into this week’s events (Sinner is in Beijing, while Alcaraz is in Tokyo).

But Sinner showed last year just how good he is indoors, winning in Shanghai and then going unbeaten as he won the ATP Finals in Turin, picking up a combined 2,500 points in the process. Alcaraz won in Beijing last year—beating Sinner in the final—but if the Italian can cut the lead by winning again in Shanghai the following week, then anything’s possible.

Neither man is currently scheduled to play between then and the last Masters 1000 event of the year, the Rolex Paris Masters at the end of October, although even that could change if one or the other man feels he needs to add an event to chase more points.

Both players won two Slams apiece in 2025, and both are clearly showing signs of fatigue, but the lure of year-end No. 1 keeps them going. What happens in the Asian swing is likely to decide who ends up on top.