A year ago at this stage of the season, Jannik Sinner was on the sidelines. He was serving a suspension that kept him out of the game for three months, and the Italian was thus prevented from playing the prestigious Masters 1000 tournaments at Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo and Madrid. That was surely the most painful stretch of his career as he dealt with a debilitating situation which wounded his pride and perhaps rattled his psyche.
But that was then, and this is now. Sinner has put his difficulties in the rear view mirror and is playing the finest tennis of his life. By upending Alexander Zverev to capture the Mutua Madrid Open with chilling efficiency, the Italian powerhouse has now established a pair of astonishing records. He is the first man to take the first four Masters 1000 titles— at Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo and Madrid— in a season since that elite category was created by the ATP in 1990, and he is the only male player ever to sweep five consecutive 1000’s by virtue of winning the previous one in Paris last fall.
To say that Sinner is soaring across sports history is putting it mildly. In those five Masters 1000 events, he has captured 28 matches in a row. Moreover, the 24-year-old— beaten in the penultimate round of the Australian Open by Novak Djokovic and the quarterfinals of Doha by Jakub Mensik at the start of his 2026 campaign—has cast those defeats aside. He has now been victorious in 23 straight matches and four consecutive tournaments. He will head into Rome for the Italian Open as the prohibitive favorite to win that highly coveted crown for the first time. If he realizes that feat, Sinner would complete a Career Golden Masters by virtue of taking all nine of those titles. The only man who has ever done that is Djokovic, who managed to put all of those titles into his victory column at least twice. But even having won eight of the nine Masters 1000’s is an extraordinary feat; besides Djokovic and Sinner, Roger Federer is the only player who has managed to pull that off.
Be that as it may, Sinner simply raised his game markedly all week long in Madrid after a slightly uneasy start. Facing Benjamin Bonzi in the second round after an opening round bye, Sinner dropped the opening set in a tie-break against the Frenchman but prevailed in the end 6-7 (6), 6-1, 6-4. Next he accounted for Denmark’s Elmer Moller 6-2, 6-3. In the round of 16, Sinner knocked out the ever tenacious left-handed Cam Norrie 6-2, 7-5.
That set the stage for a highly anticipated quarterfinal between Sinner and the charismatic, surging Spaniard Rafael Jodar. This 19-year-old dynamo won the ATP 250 tournament in Marrakech at the end of March. In Barcelona, he went all the way to the semifinals and took a set off Arthur Fils before bowing there. And then in Madrid he engineered a pair of significant upsets, upending No. 5 seed Alex De Minaur with sweeping ease 6-3, 6-1 and then ousting Joao Fonseca 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-1 in the following round. After a 7-5, 6-0 round of 16 triumph over Vit Kopriva, Jodar gave Sinner a tougher time than the 6-2, 7-6 (0) scoreline suggests.
Not until the latter stages of the contest, when Sinner took the last eleven points from 5-6 in the second set through the tie-break to close out the account, did he seem like his customary, fully confident self. Jodar with his swagger, imagination, and crackling shotmaking was largely responsible for Sinner’s apprehension. The Spaniard—cheered on vociferously by an appreciative audience in Madrid—erased a break point against him in the third game of the match with a well concealed drop shot winner and took a 2-1 lead. He then had a break point in the fourth game but could not convert it. Sinner held on after four deuces for 2-2 with a second serve ace, and broke for 3-2 with a trademark backhand down the line winner.
And yet, he was not completely out of the woods. Sinner needed to save a break point on his way to 4-2. Sweeping eight of the next nine points, the Italian pocketed the set on a run of five games in a row. But Jodar was undismayed. Unleashing rockets off the forehand, exploiting his backhand down the line and going toe to toe with Sinner from the backcourt, he made the second set awfully competitive. Sinner trailed 15-40 at 2-3 but he fended off a deep return as only he can and won that point with a searing forehand. At 30-40, the Italian employed his increasingly effective drop shot to draw Jodar in, and then sent a forehand lob down the line for a sparkling winner. He held on for 3-3 with a winning forehand.
But soon Sinner was in jeopardy again, serving at 3-4, 15-40. Once more he defended steadfastly out of his forehand corner and then released a forehand winner on his next shot. A forehand down the line winner lifted Sinner back to deuce but Jodar garnered a third break point opportunity moments later. Sinner went to the drop shot and Jodar chased it down easily, going cross court off his backhand. Sinner seemingly was in trouble but he flicked an angled backhand pass on the rise and it landed on the sideline for a winner. Soon he was back on level terrain at 4-4.
Sinner should have broken in the ninth game when he had a 15-40 opening and three break points altogether, but Jodar calmly came out of that corner to establish a 5-4 lead. Sinner, however, remained implacable. He held easily for 5-5, lost the next game, but then went into his lockdown mode to finish the match on that remarkable eleven point run, prevailing 6-2, 7-6 (0). Sinner saved all seven break points he faced in this duel, including five in the second set alone.
Sinner upped the ante in his next appointment with the estimable Fils in the semifinals. Fils had recently been triumphant in Barcelona. It took the top seed only 22 minutes to establish a 4-1, two service break lead. He achieved that second break by concluding a riveting 24 stroke exchange by unloading a forehand winner down the line. Sinner finished off that set easily from there and then got the one break he needed at 4-4 in the second set, prevailing in another 24 shot rally, this time with a scintillating backhand down the line winner. Sinner took apart Fils 6-2, 6-4, winning 88% of his first serve and 68% of his second serve points, taking 36 of 46 total service points. He did not face a break point, which was an ominous sign for Zverev when he confronted Sinner in the title round contest.
In fact, Zverev had lost his last eight head to head appointments against Sinner to fall behind 9-4 in their rivalry heading into Madrid, dropping 12 sets in a row. In their previous five matches, Sinner had not lost his serve. None of this augured well for Zverev, despite the fact that he has twice won the tournament in the altitude of Madrid. He had played well to turn the tables on Flavio Cobolli in the quarterfinals, avenging his 6-3, 6-3 semifinal loss to the flamboyant Italian in Munich with a confident 6-1, 6-4 victory in the Madrid quarterfinals. Then he stopped the impressive Alexander Blockx 6-2, 7-5 in the semifinals after the 21-year-old Belgian had toppled defending champion Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-4 in the quarters.
But Zverev never had a chance in the final against a top of the line Sinner. Right out of the gates, Sinner was striking the ball impeccably and serving with uncanny accuracy. He was playing error free tennis and thumping the ball into the corners with extraordinary timing and ball control. His sense of self and comfort in the matchup with Zverev was written all over him. Sinner’s self assurance could also be attributed to his career long success in finals. He had won 27 of the 36 he had contested while Zverev stood in more mortal territory at 24-16.
In any event, Sinner collected 20 of 25 points on his way to a 5-0 lead, breaking Zverev in the same and fourth games. After Zverev managed at last to hold serve, Sinner resumed his mastery, holding from 15-30 to seal the set 6-1 with an ace. Zverev held at love to open the second set but Sinner took off again with majesty. Back to back aces enabled the Italian to hold at 15 for 1-1. The Italian broke at 15 for 2-1 and then held at the cost of only one point for 3-1 with an ace and a service winner. Although Zverev poured in five first serves in an easy hold for 2-3– closing that game with an ace—he wasn’t going anywhere. He knew it. Sinner knew it. Everyone watching was well aware that Sinner was not going to relinquish his authority. Across the last three games, Sinner swept 12 of 13 points to take apart a subpar and subdued Zverev 6-1, 6-2.
Poor Zverev has collided time and again with Sinner this season in consequential matches to no avail. Sinner defeated the 6’6” German in the semifinals of Indian Wells, Miami and Monte Carlo without dropping a set. But Zverev seemed more resigned to losing this time than he had in the other recent skirmishes. Sinner made 74% of his first serves, won 27 of 29 first serve points (93%) and took 32 of 39 serving points (82%) in totality. Although Zverev put in 77% of his first serves, he won only 52% of those points. His velocity was not up to normal standards, while his spirits were sinking unmistakably low.
Now that Sinner has seized utter control of the men’s game as Carlos Alcaraz sits idle due to a wrist injury, the Italian is surely prioritizing Roland Garros above all else. He has played a lot of tennis since Indian Wells with very little rest, and winning is the best tonic a man can find to combat physical fatigue. But the lack of long matches and his sheer efficiency has put him in entirely good stead. During his 23 match winning streak which started at Indian Wells, Sinner has also won 46 of 48 sets.
He could conceivably have had some more strenuous battles on the clay which might have drained him, but that has not been the case. The final with Zverev lasted less than an hour. Meanwhile, because he is so aggressive off the ground and so single-minded in pursuit of winning as comfortably as possible, Sinner refuses to be drawn into too many extended backcourt rallies, which is another crucial way he conserves energy.
Life is looking awfully good for Jannik Sinner these days. He is dominating the game with a cool head and an iron hand. He is taking it one match at a time, and thinking only about one tournament at a time. But the view here is this: whatever happens in Rome, Sinner will rule at Roland Garros and realize his goal of a career Grand Slam.
