When in Rome, Jannik Sinner wins tennis matches — just as he has been doing everywhere else of late.
With a 6-4, 6-4 win over Casper Ruud in the Italian Open final Sunday, Sinner became the second player, and the youngest, to win all nine ATP Masters 1000 tournaments, the men’s events one rung below the four Grand Slams. Sinner is 24. Novak Djokovic, the only other player to do it, completed the set when he was 31.
Sinner’s triumph over Ruud, a two-time French Open finalist, takes the world No. 1’s win streak at ATP Masters 1000 events to 34, and his win streak in all competitions to 29. This was far closer than their meeting in Rome 12 months ago, when Sinner eviscerated the Norwegian 6-0, 6-1, but the outcome rarely felt in doubt, even as Ruud broke Sinner’s serve at the first attempt to lead 2-0 in the opening set.
“It was not perfect tennis from both of us, but I’m really, really happy. Incredible last two-and-a-half months,” Sinner said in his on-court interview.
“Not every day is simple, but I’m really, really happy.”
Since 2022, when Ruud lost to Rafael Nadal in a one-sided French Open final and then to 19-year-old Carlos Alcaraz at the U.S. Open, his game has been widely pigeonholed as lacking aggressiveness, when in reality, other players can simply hit the ball harder than him. Sinner is one of them, and while Ruud’s serve and forehand — the two pillars of his play — did damage on occasion, his backhand is not in the same weight class as the Italian’s, especially crosscourt.
Ruud was also reticent to take the shot down the line, because it risked leaving himself exposed against Sinner’s forehand. Still, it was ultimately feel that led to the Norwegian losing the opening set, with Sinner winning three points behind drop shots in the ninth game to break for 5-4. When he broke Ruud’s serve again to open the second set, inevitability set in.
“What you’re doing this year is hard to describe in words,” Ruud said to Sinner during the trophy ceremony.
With an inside-out forehand that nicked the sideline (and followed a far more emphatic inside-in forehand which deserved to clinch the match), Sinner moved to 36-2 in 2026, won his sixth consecutive ATP Masters 1000 title, and further entrenched himself as the runaway favorite for the French Open, which starts May 24.
As the “Olé, olé olé olé Sinner, Sinner” chants rang around the Foro Italico, Sinner took in the acclaim after making yet another piece of men’s tennis history. Such is his understatement that the greatness of what he is doing must not be lost.
