Four consecutive ATP Masters 1000 titles. Before Jannik Sinner, only two men in the Open Era had done that: Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. When you're sharing a record with those two, it's worth pausing for a second.
Paris indoors. Indian Wells. Miami. Monte Carlo. Sinner won all four, dropping not a single set across the Sunshine Double in Florida — the first man ever to do that. Then Monte Carlo on clay, against Alcaraz in the final, 7-6(5), 6-3 in wind that made both players look mildly annoyed. He got through it anyway.
That was April 13. On April 24, Alcaraz confirmed he will miss both Rome and Roland Garros with a wrist injury. Sinner's current odds to win the French Open — around 1.67 at most books — were calculated with Alcaraz in the draw. They'll shorten.
The streak that's hard to process
Sinner has won 22 consecutive matches at Masters 1000 level. That number is genuinely difficult to contextualise. Winning two or three consecutive Masters titles used to be considered once-in-a-generation form. A 22-match run means not just winning tournaments but barely dropping a match across the most competitive bracket structure in the sport.
He is now in his 67th week as world number one, one ahead of Alcaraz's 66. At 24, he's only just started accumulating those weeks.
The one thing missing from his record
Sinner's Roland Garros history is good without being decisive. He reached the semi-final in 2024, losing to Djokovic in four sets. In 2025 he played Alcaraz in the final — five sets, nearly three hours — and lost a match he'd been leading. He's been deep in that tournament. The trophy always went somewhere else.
This year looks different. Alcaraz is out. Novak Djokovic hasn't played since Indian Wells, recovering from a shoulder injury, hoping to make Rome but uncertain about Paris. The draw opens considerably without those two.
Who can stop him
Alexander Zverev is the most obvious candidate. He reached the Roland Garros final in 2024 and is consistently present in the later rounds of clay-season majors. He's also never won a Grand Slam despite being in contention for years, and that history tends to become its own kind of obstacle.
Casper Ruud knows clay, has a Roland Garros final on his record, and makes almost no unforced errors in the wrong moments. Arthur Fils or Carlos Moutet could cause chaos on home clay in Paris if everything clicks for a French crowd that would love it. Holger Rune, on his best day, can beat anyone on any surface.
None of them, though, have beaten Sinner in the past four consecutive Masters finals at this level.
The pressure question
Sinner enters Roland Garros as the favourite in a way he hasn't been before. Winning as the hunted feels different from winning as the hunter, and he's spent most of his career chasing Djokovic and Alcaraz rather than being chased. A Roland Garros from the top of a 22-match winning streak, with no Alcaraz in the draw and an injured Djokovic as the main threat — that's both a rare opportunity and a different kind of weight.
Everything in 2026 so far suggests he can carry it.
