Sinner From Rome to Paris: 'Fifty Years Is Enough Waiting'
Italy's number one lifted the Italian Masters two weeks ago, the first home Masters title in 50 years, beating Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-4 in the final, and now goes hunting his first Paris crown.
In the Foro Italico final on Sunday, 17 May, Sinner had a chance to close out the match in the second-set tie-break at 5-5. Casper Ruud, the 26-year-old Norwegian, hit his serve at 218 kilometres per hour, his fastest of the match.
Sinner returned it. Ruud’s second serve landed in the centre, the Italian rotated his backhand from the inside, the ball flew three centimetres long. Break. Three minutes later, Sinner was celebrating a title that Italian tennis had not held for 50 years.
What Rome delivered
Jannik Sinner won the Italian Open in Rome by beating Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-4 in one hour and 52 minutes. It was the first home Masters title for an Italian player since Adriano Panatta in 1976. Back then it had been treated as a national holiday in Italy.
In tennis, 50 years is an eternity. Especially for a country with more than 800,000 registered players.
A record streak of Masters titles
Technically, the Rome win made it six straight Masters titles for Sinner. The streak starts with the Paris Masters in autumn 2025.
That run will be hard to top, because the previous record was Djokovic’s five in a row from 2014 to 2015. Across that 12-month window, Sinner has won:
- Cincinnati
- Shanghai
- Paris-Bercy
- Madrid
- Monte Carlo
- Rome
That is a historic run across multiple surfaces.
Stats for the record books
With Rome, Sinner moved past Djokovic on Italian-tennis weeks at world No. 1. No Italian player had ever held the top ATP ranking before Sinner.
The win also locked in the top seed at Roland Garros. That matters, because it sets him up against different potential opponents than Carlos Alcaraz would have drawn.
Alcaraz, in or out
Alcaraz, the Spanish defending champion from 2025, skipped Rome with a wrist tendon inflammation. He missed Madrid before that for the same reason.
Word is that Alcaraz returns in Paris, but his official Instagram has had no posts for more than ten days. Bookmakers give his appearance only a 40 percent chance, which is low for a defending champion.
What next, how Paris looks
Sinner played his Roland Garros first round on Tuesday in Paris against French wild card Clement Tabur, winning 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 in one hour and 39 minutes.
In the second round on Thursday he faces Argentinian Juan Manuel Cerundolo, who came through Britain’s Cameron Norrie in five sets in round one. Cerundolo is in the best tennis of his career, but he needed an IV mid-match for dehydration.
Personally, I give Sinner 30 percent to win Paris this year. The reason is not form, since the Italian is playing exceptional minutes. The reason is the opponents in his half of the draw.
Djokovic is in the same quarter, as is Sinner’s biggest clay rival, the Canadian left-hander Felix Auger-Aliassime. He cannot meet Djokovic until the semi-final on 6 June, if both come through four earlier rounds.
What the coach says
Coach Darren Cahill told reporters on Tuesday:
Jannik has done something in the last ten months that few players have ever done in tennis history, six Masters in a row. Now it is Paris, but Paris has its own rule, and that rule is that no one with his Rome form is guaranteed anything.
Cahill has been on Sinner’s team since 2024. He believes Italian tennis is now at the top of the world, but that this is no excuse to ease off on focus.
Sinner has one practice on Wednesday at 11 a.m. on Chatrier, then physiotherapy and a wrist-joint conditioning session. He plays the second round on Thursday evening, with Friday free. That gives him a reset before the third round, where he most likely meets Britain’s Jack Draper.
So Paris is on plan for Sinner. But a plan on clay is worth nothing until the first break.
