Jannik Sinner started the year slowly, going down to Novak Djokovic in a remarkable semi final at the Australian Open, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 4-6, 4-6.
At 38 years of age, Djokovic played as well as he ever played in five sets to come away with the win.
An exhausted Sinner made four backhand errors in the final game to concede the semi at 1.32am after 249 minutes.
Djokovic was likely motivated by the suggestion of a journalist, after his quarter final, that he started his career chasing Roger and Rafa for titles and now at the backend is chasing Jannik and Carlos. Politely but firmly, Djokovic rebuked the “little bit disrespectful” journalist and reminded him, “there is probably about a 15 year period in between where I was dominating the grand slams”.
Unfortunately for Sinner, he was made to pay for the offence to Djokovic.
Photo: Tennis Australia
Sinner followed the disappointment of the Australian Open with a quarter final loss in Doha at the hands of 16th seed Jakub Menšík. In analysing his 6-7(3) 6-2 3-6 defeat for Sky Sport, he explained that he may have slowed his game too much while attempting to add more variety.
But he got his mojo back in the next tournament, the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, and backed it up in Miami to win the Sunshine Double of Masters 1000s.
Disappointingly for “Sincaraz” fans, Sinner’s arch rival and World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz was knocked out of both events early, depriving them of a final between the two.
Daniil Medvedev handed Alcaraz his first defeat of the year in the semis of Indian Wells, while Sebastian Korda surprised Alcaraz in the third round of the Miami Open.
Alexander Zverev was the only opponent Sinner faced in both events. Seeded 4th in Miami and 3rd in Indian Wells, Zverev lost in straight sets in their semifinals.
Really, it didn’t matter who Sinner played as he didn’t drop a set in either tournament.
After arriving a few weeks early at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in California’s Coachella Valley, Sinner said, “Now here we’re trying to push a bit more again. I’m in a good mental state to do well here. I’m really calm.”
He did have two tough double tiebreak matches – with identical scores. In the Round of 16, he defeated João Fonseca, and eventually Daniil Medvedev in the final, 7-6(6), 7-6(4).
In between, he gave NextGen rising star Learner Tien a lesson, allowing him just three games in their quarterfinal.
Medvedev played well in the final, with neither player losing serve in the match.
Sinner levelled the first set at 6-6 with a sliced backhand gently flicked across court in front of Medvedev at the net.
He had ventured to the net eight times during the match and won each point.
At match point, Medvedev lunged to hit Sinner’s return and lost control of the shot which landed long. The champion immediately turned to his box and pointed at his heart.
Following the presentation of his first Indian Wells trophy he said, “We came here very, very early to prepare this and now it’s even more special holding this beautiful trophy… Now I understand why this is the paradise of tennis.”
Last year, Sinner missed both Indian Wells and the Miami Open presented by Itau as he served a three-month doping ban. He would have been defending champion in Miami.
This year, he cruised to the championship match at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
Steady rain saw the start of the final delayed by 90 minutes. The opponent would be Jiří Lehečka in his first Masters 1000 final. The Czech had done well to reach the final as the 21st seed. Taylor Fritz, seeded 7, was the highest seed he overcame on the way. Fritz gave Lehečka his only three-setter, going down 4-6, 7-6(4), 2-6 in the fourth round.
Early in the final, Sinner struggled with his serve and groundstrokes, but steadied and broke for 2-1. At 40-0 to Lehečka in the next game, it seemed there would be an immediate break back, but Sinner resisted with five excellent first serves, including two aces, to reach 3-1. At 5-3, Lehečka saved two set points, though needed three game points to hold. Sinner then held to love to pocket the set.
Lehečka was serving first in the second set as the dark clouds rolled in and soon the showers came down again. Play couldn’t resume for 80 minutes. The two rain delays combined lasted for considerably longer than the match.
Eventually, he led 4-3 and got 0-30 on Sinner’s serve, but again that serve saved the day.
Sinner sealed the victory with a pin point forehand volley to the corner.
As it turned out, each set lasted 47 minutes for a 6-4 outcome.
Photo: Miami Open presented by Itau
“Today’s conditions were… very heavy,” said Sinner at the post-match press conference, “so we were both struggled a little bit in the beginning. Also, it was a bit windy at some points so it was not easy today, but I’m very happy.”
Asked which part of his game he was most happy with, he said, “Look, it has to be the serve… I feel like I was serving better than at Indian Wells…
“[Lehečka] is a very aggressive returner, you know, standing very close, so you have to hit very precise otherwise he has it on the racquet… And also when you go a little bit tired physically, you have some free points.
“We worked a lot to be in this position… [After arriving in Indian Wells] we had so, so long days on court. Not many days off. Playing out in the sun for very much. I felt like that has been an aspect where I needed to improve, playing in the heat. I suffered but I tried to go through this situation over and over again, every day.”
He became the first man to win the Sunshine Double without dropping a set. His take on the achievement was, “Not dropping a set, it’s not relevant, you know. I feel like you need to win the match, that’s the most important.”
With the Miami victory, Sinner has won his second Masters 1000 for 2026 and his third consecutive 1000 since Paris in November. Breaking down the stats further, that’s 34 consecutive sets won in a run of 17 Masters match wins.
“I’m very happy about this couple of tournaments and now a new chapter starts with the clay so let’s see how it goes.”
Title photo by BNP Paribas Open
Update 12 April 2026 – Monte-Carlo
Jannik Sinner continued his winning way on the clay of the Rolex Masters 1000 in Monte-Carlo.
Happily for “Sincaraz” fans, he met Carlos Alcaraz in the championship match – their first final of the year.
He defeated Alcaraz 7-6(5), 6-3, and in doing so, replaced him as World No. 1.
This time, Sinner couldn’t quite manage to win a Masters tournament with dropping a set. In the third round, unseeded Tomáš Macháč wrestled a tiebreak set from Sinner, 1-6, 7-6(3), 3-6.
Alexander Zverev was again defeated by Sinner in straight sets in the semis.
The final was the first time since 2012, the World No. 1 & 2 ranked players had competed for the Monte Carlo title.
With Hogler Rune watching on from the stands, Alcaraz broke early but was soon broken himself. As the set progressed, the flags around the court blew crazily as the wind started to gust.
Sinner struggled to adjust to the conditions. His first serve was sitting at only 39% up till 6-6. But he figured it out and in the tiebreak, made six out of six first serves.
Alcaraz handed him the set with a double fault.
In the next set, Sinner again started slowly. He failed to convert two break points and Alcaraz led 3-1. But three break points later and Sinner finally got it back to 3-3. Another break point came through an atomic forehand winner that Alcaraz didn’t have time to run for. Then the Spaniard guessed right at the net but since his angled volley went wide, Sinner would serve for the match.
After an Alcaraz return landed over the baseline, the champion squatted on the clay contemplating his victory.
Alcaraz had struggled with unforced errors on his backhand throughout the match as Sinner relentlessly attacked his opponent on that side. Here the official line between “unforced” and “forced” was very much blurred.
At the net, Alcaraz acknowledged his friendly rival with “Great job, man. Well done.”
It was Sinner’s first win at Monte-Carlo Country Club. The city is now his professional residence and he acknowledged how handy it was to be “sleeping at home”.
His “second father” Darren Cahill wasn’t there to witness the win, but his biological father was. The two redheads hugged after the match.
The younger and much taller of the redheads spoke of his victory, “Getting back to No. 1 means a lot to me. At the same time, as I always say, the ranking is secondary.
“I’m happy to win at least one big trophy on this surface. I haven’t done it before so it means a lot to me.”
Update 3 May 2026 – Madrid
This time, Zverev was not defeated by Sinner in a semi. He made it to the final to meet his fate.
Sinner allowed Zverev only three games and no break point opportunities as he won Madrid. He became the first male player to win five consecutive Masters 1000s since the series began in 1990.
As in Monte-Carlo, Sinner dropped only one set on his way to the championship. This tournament, it was the first set of the first round, which Benjamin Bonzi took in a tiebreak.
Zverev was going for his third Madrid title, having won in 2018 and 2021.
But Sinner aced to take the first set 6-1 in 25 minutes. Zverev lifted as the second set began, his newly found aggressive play seeing him hold to love. He held to love again to reach 2-3, though it was the last game he won. Not long after, he missed a forehand wide allowing Sinner to claim the final game of the match to love.
Afterwards, Sinner shared his thoughts. “I thought it went very well the match, breaking straight away. He was not playing his best tennis today so I just tried to get with the front foot ahead.
“Very happy, obviously, about the level I’m playing… There’s a lot of work behind it. A lot of dedication and sacrifice I put in everyday.
“It means a lot to me seeing this result.”
Despite experiencing his eighth consecutive loss to Sinner, Zverev was good-humoured at the trophy ceremony. He undertook the task of opening the champagne bottle by spraying Sinner all over before cheekily pouring the last drops directly on the grinning winner’s head.
Update 17 May 2026 – Rome
In 2025, Jasmine Paolini in 2025 became the first Italian woman to win the Rome singles title in 40 years. And this year, Sinner would attempt to become the first man to win the title after after Adriano Panatta, 50 years ago.
There was some concern about the physical condition of Sinner in Rome, after he had played so many matches to win the previous four Masters 1000s.
He had won his first three rounds of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in comfortable straight sets. But, leading 4-1 in the second set of his quarter final against Andrei Rublev it was clear something wasn’t right. During the fifth game of the set, he winced and grabbed his leg.
Rublev promptly made up ground to be 4-5. Sinner managed to serve it out for another straight sets win but his first serve was just 39% in the set – nowhere near the serving excellence of Miami.
Again, in his semi against Daniil Medvedev, was Sinner was in some distress. He called the trainer for assistance and drank pickle juice. Nonetheless, he was leading when rain suspended play for the day, with the score at 4-2 in the third. He was helped by Medvedev losing serve shortly before the suspension.
The following day, Sinner had revived and need only two games to book his place in the final, 6-2, 5-7, 6-4.
There 25th seed Casper Ruud was waiting for him. But the Sinner show rolled on.
Ruud had beaten Italian Luciano Darderi for the loss of only two games in their semi.
Against Sinner, the Norwegian’s head-to-head was 0-4 before the final, all in straight sets. In last year’s quarters, Sinner allowed him just one game.
With the Italian Prime Minister Sergio Mattarella watching on, Ruud held to love before Sinner missed fives first serves and made an error out wide to be 0-2. Soon after, Sinner lifted to his usual standard of play and the set proceeded to 4-4 when he broke. He then claimed the first of three set points with jumping smash, worthy of Pete Sampras, for 6-4.
In the second set, Sinner lead all the way to 5-3 and the crowd sang Ole.
Ruud held off the inevitable with a strong service game. As her son served at 30-0, Siglinde Sinner shielded her face, not being able to look. She need not have worried as her son got went on to earn three championship points and took the first. The crowd got a bit ahead of itself, thinking Ruud’s shot was landing out but it actually floated into court. Sinner was champion with the next shot though and the Italians chanted for him.
Ruud had played well and he received sustained recognition from the crowd.
Sinner’s serve was below par but the Italian found his way to a patriotic win.
Fittingly, it was Prime Minister Mattarella who presented Sinner with his trophy. Standing next to him was Panatta.
Novak Djokovic holds the records for the most Masters 1000 titles won in a calendar year – six in 2015. So far, Sinner has five in 2026, but there are still four opportunities remaining.
Sinner won first Masters 1000 in Canada in 2023. Djokovic took 11 years to achieve his record of winning all nine in a career – from 2007 Miami to Cincinatti in 2018. And he has now done it twice.
At 24 years of age, Sinner has plenty of time to see if he can equal or surpass those feats.
Update – 7 June 2026
Alexander Zverev avenged all the semi finals losses to Jannik Sinner by winning at Roland-Garros. Although the two did not meet in Paris – Sinner lost in the second round after seemingly suffering from heat exhaustion – Zvevev won the title that mattered most. In an excellent draw, Zverev defeated the No. 95, 43, 90, 106, 29, 27 and 14 seeds to take the title.
Update – 12 July 2026
Sinner again defeated Zverev, this time in the Wimbledon final. Although the first two sets went to tiebreaks, Sinner ran away with the match. He was not broken in the four sets, 6-7(7), 7-6(2), 6-3, 6-4.
Update – 25 July 2026
Jannik Sinner will not win a sixth consecutive Masters 1000. He has withdrawn from the Canadian Open in Montreal, commencing on 2 August. Sinner said he withdrew from the tournament to prioritise his health.