Jannik Sinner had a score to settle with the Mutua Madrid Open, and boy, did he settle it. The Italian always used to tip-toe his way around the Caja Magica – six wins from his first three appearances – despite the fact that the conditions in the Spanish capital would appear to be a perfect fit for his tennis. After Sunday, however, few will remember what he did in previous years, and they will never forget his title campaign in 2026.
With his 6-1, 6-2 win over Alexander Zverev in the title bout, Sinner has moved a step closer to the Olympus of tennis. He has now ticked off one of the few events that was still missing from his CV. The San Candido native has now triumphed at eight of the nine ATP Masters 1000s on the calendar; he has won in Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo, Madrid, Canada, Cincinnati, Shanghai and Paris. The only one now missing from this list is Rome, his home event, where he could triumph next week. And he is only 24 years old.
Given Sinner’s dominance of the tour in recent years, it seemed like an anomaly that his name was missing from the Mutua Madrid Open’s roll of honour. However, the brilliance of Carlos Alcaraz – champion in the Caja Magica in 2022 and 2023 – and upsets from Andrey Rublev (2024) and Casper Ruud (2025) meant Sinner had to wait until 2026 to pick up his first title in Madrid. Surely, it will not be his last.
Sinner’s name now joins a long list of legends that have won the tournament. He is, in fact, the ninth player to conquer Madrid having been the ATP world number one at some point, after Andre Agassi (2002), Juan Carlos Ferrero (2003), Marat Safin (2004), Rafael Nadal (2005, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2017), Roger Federer (2006, 2009, 2012), Andy Murray (2008, 2015), Novak Djokovic (2011, 2016, 2019) and Carlos Alcaraz (2022, 2023). The only champions in Madrid that have never reached the top of the rankings were David Nalbandian, Alexander Zverev, Rublev and Ruud.
In addition, since Sinner currently sits at the top of the world rankings, he is in much rarer company because only five times has the champion occupied the top spot at the time of their victory, with Ferrero in 2003, Federer in 2006, Nadal in 2014, and Djokovic in 2016 and 2019.
