The balance of power these days in the world of men’s tennis keeps swinging back and forth between Spain’s estimable Carlos Alcaraz and Italy’s implacable Jannik Sinner. They have won the last nine majors between them since Sinner captured his first Australian Open two years ago. They have traded places at the top of the ATP Rankings through most of that stretch. They have both celebrated periods of near invincibility when it seems as if losing is simply out of the question.
That is the state of mind where Sinner is living so loftily at the moment. The 24-year-old with the soundest arsenal in the sport has now swept three Masters 1000 titles in a row. Already victorious at Indian Wells and Miami on hard courts, he shifted swiftly onto the clay to claim his biggest prize ever on the dirt at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters with a calm and purposeful display against Alcaraz in the title round contest. Sinner toppled his chief adversary 7-6 (5), 6-3, rallying from 0-2 down in the opening set and 1-3 in the second to secure victory.
That was an extraordinary achievement. The only other player to collect these three prestigious titles in a row was none other than Novak Djokovic at the absolute height of his powers back in 2015. In that span, Sinner has captured 17 matches in a row and has conceded only one set. This was the first head to head showdown between the two best players in the world of the 2026 season. By overcoming the 2024-2025 French Open victor and defending champion in Monte-Carlo, Sinner demonstrated emphatically that he will be awfully tough to beat at Roland Garros as he looks to complete a career Grand Slam in Paris.
Sinner did not start his duel with Alcaraz on the red clay of Monte-Carlo the way he would have wanted. The wind was swirling around the court in the neighborhood of 15 MPH, making it an arduous task for both men to gauge their shots from the backcourt, causing them to take extra care with their service tosses.
Alcaraz took his 2-0 lead by winning eight of eleven points, breaking an apprehensive Sinner when the Italian drove an inside out forehand wide. But Sinner retaliated at once, breaking back at 30 in the third game as a miss-hit forehand provoked an error from his adversary. Sinner promptly held at 15 for 2-2 and the battle was on. Now the Italian seemed to have the upper hand. He had a break point in the fifth game but missed a makable forehand return. After two deuces, Alcaraz managed to hold. After Sinner surged to 3-3 at the cost of only one point, the Spaniard was pushed to deuce again, but held on in that seventh game with a scintillating backhand crosscourt volley with remarkable depth that was unanswerable.
Both players recognized the importance of this opening set and were raising their intensity and ingenuity with every passing game. A double fault put Sinner behind 0-30 at 3-4 but he eventually delivered a clutch hold from deuce with a pair of service winners. Roles were reversed at 4-4 when Alcaraz double faulted to fall behind break point, but he, too, was unbending, sweeping three points in a row to move ahead 5-4. Sinner refused to buckle, holding at 15 for 5-5 with a pair of overhead winners, one Alcaraz aggressive forehand mistake and a re-drop shot that left Alcaraz compromised.
At long last Alcaraz held at love without missing a first serve for 6-5. Down 15-30 in the twelfth game, Sinner obstinately held on after two deuces, connecting with four first serves in a row to bring about a tie-break. Sinner’s serve in the tie-break was magnificent. He never missed a first delivery in that sequence. At 2-2, he easily anticipated an Alcaraz drop shot and sent a backhand into the clear for a timely outright winner. That gave Sinner the mini-break. Two service winners took the Italian to 5-2 but Alcaraz answered with a service winner followed by an ace.
The tension was palpable. An overhead taken on the bounce enabled him to advance to 6-4 with two set points at his disposal. He was poised to seal the set right then and there, producing a perfect first serve down the T. Alcaraz’s return was short, but Sinner stunningly netted a forehand he would make 99 times out of 100. Alcaraz now served at 5-6, hoping to salvage the set with some of his customary poise under pressure. But the Spaniard shocked the audience with a double fault long. Sinner had deservedly sealed the tie-break seven points to five after 74 hard fought minutes.
And yet, Alcaraz was ready with typical pride and perspicacity to regain the momentum. Although Sinner held from 15-40 in the first game of the second set, Alcaraz broke Sinner in the third game with astounding forehand passing shot down the line in response to a short finesse backhand volley from the Italian, and then went in front 3-1, although he made life complicated for himself in that fourth game by wasting a 40-0 lead. The Spaniard had won 11 of 14 points to put himself in that position, but was made to work exceedingly hard before he held, surviving two break points and five deuces before holding his serve.
Sinner could have been dismayed by his missed opportunity, but with his unshakable demeanor he plodded on. The Italian held from 15-30 for 2-3. Then Alcaraz found himself in a long and strenuous service game which he finally lost after three deuces with an errant backhand drop shot down the line. Back to 3-3 was an ascendant Sinner, who easily held for 4-3 at the cost of only one point. Alcaraz advanced to 40-15 in the eighth game but Sinner broke for 5-3 after two deuces, keeping a forehand pass low and forcing Alcaraz into a forehand volley wide. Now serving for the match, Sinner held confidently at 15 to put this match into his victory column. Sinner’s expanding stroke repertoire including his markedly improved drop shot off both sides led him to this triumph, along with his excellent serving at opportune times. He only made 51% of his first serves in the tricky wind, but the fact remains that he won 65% of his second serve points.
Sinner is currently 7-10 in his career series with the Spaniard but has won their last two contests in similar fashion. When they last met in the final of the Nitto ATP Finals last November in Turin, Sinner won 7-6 (4), 7-5, rescuing himself there from a break down in the second set with the same resoluteness he put on display in Monte-Carlo.
Upending Alcaraz for the second time in a row was not insignificant for Sinner. At one stage he was ahead 4-3 in his career series with Alcaraz but then he lost their next five encounters. In three of those appointments, Sinner could well have won. Alcaraz came from two sets to one down to cut down Sinner in the 2024 Roland Garros semifinals, rallied from 0-3 in the final set tie-break in the final of Beijing later that season to prevail 6-7 (6), 6-4, 7-6 (3), and somehow overcame the Italian in the final of the French Open last year. In that epic skirmish, Sinner had triple match point in the fourth set with Alcaraz serving at 3-5 in the fourth set but the Spaniard improbably succeeded 4-6 6-7 (7-4), 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (10-2).
Sinner then commendably halted Alcaraz in a four set Wimbledon final, but, later last summer, the ailing Italian retired at 5-0 down in the first set of the Cincinnati final against the Spanish maestro, and then fell in four sets in the U.S. Open final. But he must be feeling a whole lot better about the matchup as he heads into the rest of the clay court season with possible meetings against his keynote rival in Madrid and Rome.
By virtue of his streak of three consecutive Masters 1000 titles, Sinner has moved past Alcaraz to No. 1 in the world. They could trade places at No. 1 and No. 2 a few more times this year, but the fact remains that Sinner might well widen his lead between now and the end of Roland Garros because Alcaraz has so many ATP ranking points to protect and he does not.
The view here is that Jannik Sinner is going to win Roland Garros in June, but Carlos Alcaraz will likely turn the tables on him at Wimbledon. That scenario would set up an enticing U.S. Open showdown where, in my view, Sinner should reclaim his hard court superiority by striking down Alcaraz in Arthur Ashe Stadium. The rest of 2026 will be enormously enjoyable to follow as Sinner and Alcaraz continue to set the pace and control the climate of the game. I can’t wait for it all to unfold.
