Jannik Sinner will not be at the Paris Masters to defend his title this year.
Sinner beat Felix Auger-Aliassime in last year’s final to win the Paris Masters for the first time.
Since then, Sinner has become the second player in history to win every single Masters 1000 title, having won his 32nd consecutive match at this level of tournament when he won the Italian Open title in May.
Despite all of the success he achieved earlier this year, Sinner has not played since July after ending his season early due to a knee injury he suffered after winning Wimbledon, meaning that something has happened for just the fourth time in tennis history at this year’s Paris Masters.
Which ATP player do you think will win the 2026 Paris Masters title?
Neither 2025 Paris Masters finalist is playing at this year’s tournament
Sinner’s knee injury means that he will not be able to defend his Paris Masters title, but he is not the only top player who has been forced to miss this year’s tournament. The aforementioned Auger-Aliassime reached his second Masters 1000 final in Paris last year, but he will not be returning to the French capital this year to try and go one better than he did in 2025.
Auger-Aliassime is also struggling with a knee injury that he suffered at the Shanghai Masters, which has also forced him to miss the Paris Masters this year.
This has impacted Auger-Aliassime’s ranking already, as he has dropped outside the top 10 for the first time since August last year down to world number 13.
Sinner and Auger-Aliassime both missing the Paris Masters this year means that it is just the fourth time in tennis history that both finalists from the previous year’s event have been unable to return the following year.
The first time that this happened at the Paris Masters was in 1987, when 1986 champion Boris Becker and runner-up Sergio Casal did not return to the event where they reached the final. This did not happen again until 17 years later, when defending champion Marat Safin and runner-up Lleyton Hewitt did not play.
The most recent time this happened before Sinner and Auger-Aliassime was at the 2020 Paris Masters, when neither Novak Djokovic nor Denis Shapovalov played.
- 1986 – Boris Becker and Sergio Casal (Did not play the 1987 tournament)
- 2002 – Marat Safin and Lleyton Hewitt (Did not play the 2003 tournament)
- 2019 – Novak Djokovic and Denis Shapovalov (Did not play the 2020 tournament)
- 2025 – Jannik Sinner and Felix Auger-Aliassime (Did not play the 2026 tournament)
How many former champions are playing at the Paris Masters this year?
While Sinner will not be coming back to the Paris Masters to defend his title, there will still be five former champions returning to the singles draw. This includes record seven-time champion Djokovic, who will be attempting to qualify for the ATP Finals at the Paris Masters this year.
Joining Djokovic in attempting to recreate their previous successes at the Paris Masters are Karen Khachanov, Daniil Medvedev, Holger Rune and new world number one Alexander Zverev.
Djokovic, Khachanov and Rune will all start in the first round, while Medvedev and Zverev will start in the second round as top eight seeds.
| Former champions competing at the Paris Masters in 2026 | Year/s they won the Paris Masters | First round opponent at the Paris Masters in 2026 |
| Novak Djokovic | 2009, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2019, 2021 & 2023 | Valentin Vacherot |
| Karen Khachanov | 2018 | Denis Shapovalov |
| Daniil Medvedev | 2020 | Receives a bye as the fourth seed, faces Ignacio Buse in the second round |
| Holger Rune | 2022 | Tommy Paul (12) |
| Alexander Zverev | 2024 | Receives a bye as the top seed, faces Lorenzo Musetti in the second round |
As well as the five former champions returning to the Paris Masters, there are also two previous runners-up coming back to the tournament in Ugo Humbert and Shapovalov, while 2023 finalist Grigor Dimitrov lost in qualifying.
The Paris Masters is the final ATP 1000 tournament of the year and will decide the final four qualification spots for this year’s ATP Finals.
