On Sunday, Jannik Sinner defeated Alexander Zverev 6–1, 6–2, to win his fifth straight Masters 1000 tournament at the Madrid Open, becoming the first man in tennis history to accomplish this feat. Sinner’s victory marks the most recent record he’s broken, though he also set another one a few weeks ago for most sets won consecutively at the Masters 1000 level with 37, demolishing the mark of 24, set by Novak Djokovic in 2016. After serving a three-month ban last year for doping and missing Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo, and Madrid — the first four Masters 1000 tournaments of the year — Sinner has dominated the field en route to securing each of these titles in 2026.
To put these feats into perspective, Sinner has won 30 matches in a row at the sport’s second-most prestigious level of tournaments, behind only the four Grand Slams. Sinner’s 37 sets in a row were good enough for him to win 18 matches in straight sets. In the last six months, the Italian has been virtually unstoppable.
No one is saying that Sinner doesn’t deserve his flowers — he unequivocally does. However, naysayers are claiming that his streak should come with an asterisk, and not because of his past doping controversy. Instead, critics are claiming that since Sinner is competing outside of the era of the Big Three — Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Djokovic — the level of competition is much lower and thus far easier for him to win so often.
During the reign of the Big Three — a period in which Federer, Nadal and Djokovic combined to win 66 of the 80 Grand Slams played from 2003 to 2023 — no one out of the three of them could be the best in the world for long. Andy Murray came close, holding the World No. 1 ranking for 41 weeks, but compared to the Big Three’s combined ownership of the top position for 947 weeks, Murray was far off from their dominance. Luckily for Sinner, Federer retired before the two could play, and Nadal won their three meetings before retiring, too. Sinner leads his head-to-head with Djokovic 6–5 despite losing to the Serb in the semifinals of the 2026 Australian Open.
It’s fair to acknowledge that, had Sinner been competing against the Big Three in their peaks, his run of five straight Masters 1000 titles would have been more difficult. However, the level at the top of the sport is still remarkably high, as seen by the results Carlos Alcaraz and Zverev have been achieving in the last year.
Alcaraz, the current World No. 2, has been Sinner’s primary rival for the last few years. The Spaniard leads their head-to-head 10–7, has held the No. 1 ranking for just four fewer weeks than Sinner, and has won seven Grand Slams to Sinner’s four, including January’s Australian Open. To be fair, Alcaraz is currently nursing an injured wrist and could not play his home tournament in Madrid. However, he was still competing in Indian Wells, Miami, and Monte Carlo, where he lost on his favorite surface in straight sets to Sinner in the final. Alcaraz’s presence in the draw always looms over every tournament Sinner plays, as a match between the two of them is a certified blockbuster that showcases tennis at the highest level. However, as Alcaraz demonstrated with losses against lower-ranked players in Indian Wells and Miami, even reaching the final in a tournament, never mind winning five Masters 1000 in a row, is not a guarantee in today’s game.
Furthermore, Sinner had to face Zverev, the No. 3 player in the world, in all five Masters 1000 events he has won consecutively, four times in the semifinals and most recently in the final of Madrid. When Zverev has been pitted against anyone else at the Masters 1000 level since the Paris Masters in 2025, he has emerged victorious, going a spotless 21–0. Despite the truthful jokes that the lowest ranked player in the world is closer to Zverev by ranking points than Zverev is to Alcaraz at No. 2, Zverev has demonstrated that he has decisively earned the No. 3 spot. The fact that Sinner has dispatched him so handily in their last five encounters, dropping just 24 out of 91 games and winning every set the two have played, should prove to doubters that Sinner’s dominance is not something that should be diminished, but celebrated.
Sinner has proven that, even when Alcaraz is in his path, he is the best player in the world, and it will take anyone having one of the best days of their career to defeat him. As early-round action at his home Masters 1000 tournament in Rome is underway, we can anticipate that Sinner will once again sweep the field and earn an astounding sixth straight Masters 1000 title before turning his sights to the elusive French Open crown. Should Sinner maintain this level and win the Italian Open and the French Open, the Italian will strengthen his grip on the World No. 1 ranking and add more fuel toward his quest to be the best player of this generation.
