About three months ago, there were concerns that Jannik Sinner was losing ground in his rivalry with Carlos Alcaraz after losing at the Australian Open and Doha.
So things changed a little bit.
The world No. 1 defeated Alexander Zverev 6-1, 6-2 in the Madrid Open final on Sunday to become the first player in history to win five consecutive ATP Masters 1000 titles. He previously tied Novak Djokovic (three consecutive four-year 1000 titles) and Rafael Nadal (one).
Sinner dominated Zverev from the start, scoring 20 of the first 23 points and winning the first set 6-1 in just 25 minutes. After nine minutes, Sinner led 3-0. He extended it to 5-0 by the 17th minute.
advertisement
Zverev showed a little more of his opponent in the second set, but it wasn’t by much, with Sinner winning 6-2. The match lasted just 57 minutes, and Sinner outplayed Zverev in every aspect of the court, hitting a flurry of forehands from the backline, returning backhands with ease and landing feather-like drop shots at the net.
“I started the match really well and I beat him right away,” Sinner said in an on-court interview after the match. “But he wasn’t playing his best tennis today, so I just tried to put my front foot forward. I’m very happy with my level of play.”
With the win, Sinner extended his winning streak against Zverev to nine matches, dating back to the 2024 Cincinnati Open. He has defeated the German in all five of his 1000 consecutive titles.
“I’m really disappointed in the final. It wasn’t my best day,” Zverev told the crowd before the trophy ceremony.
Sinner earned $1.2 million in prize money for winning the Madrid Open, adding to the $4.35 million he has already won this year. Mr. Sinner has earned more than $60 million in total during his career.
advertisement
Jannik Sinner is doing something historic right now
The 24-year-old Sinner has won 28 consecutive matches between the ATP 1000 Paris Masters, Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo and Madrid. If he wins four more games in Rome later this month, he will extend Djokovic’s streak of 31 wins.
If he wins the title in Rome, he will become the first player since Nadal in 2010 to sweep the 1,000-second mark on clay, adding to his unprecedented winning streak. All of these records date back to 1990, when the latest ATP 1000 system was introduced.
The Madrid title also puts Sinner even further away from the No. 1 title, with him currently 1,390 points behind Alcaraz’s 14,350 points, and that gap set to widen further next month. Alcaraz has not played since losing to Sinner in the Monte Carlo final and has already announced that he will miss Roland Garros with a wrist injury.
advertisement
Sinner won the 2025 ATP Finals during this streak, but lost to Djokovic in the Australian Open semifinals and Jakub Mensik at the Doha 500.
Clearly, Sinner plays a sport where true greatness is measured in Grand Slams, not 1,000 titles. But even if Alcaraz were healthy, there’s a reason why Sinner was the favorite to win Roland Garros. While Alcaraz has thrived there, clay has never been his strongest surface, but this run of success has reset the debate.
And if Sinner can overcome the Alcaraz-less field in Paris, he will become the seventh player in the Open era to complete a career Grand Slam.
