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Jannik Sinner Makes Even More Incredible Tennis History by Winning Italian Open

The 24-year-old surpassed multiple of Novak Djokovic’s outstanding records on Sunday by winning his sixth ATP 1000 title in a row.
Madison Williams|
Jannik Sinner became the youngest and just the second player to win all nine ATP 1000 events in his career.
Jannik Sinner became the youngest and just the second player to win all nine ATP 1000 events in his career. | Filippo Monteforte/AFP via Getty Images

What can’t Jannik Sinner do at this point?

On Sunday, Sinner captured the Italian Open title by beating Casper Ruud 6–4, 6–4, marking his sixth ATP 1000 victory in a row—he’s the only men’s player in history with this specific streak.

The bigger news, though, is that Sinner is now just the second player ever to complete his career Golden Masters, which consists of winning all nine ATP 1000 events in a player’s career. Only Novak Djokovic has accomplished this lofty feat, which he did twice. What differentiates Sinner from Djokovic in this situation is that Sinner is only 24 years old, while it took Djokovic until he was 31 to capture all nine titles.

It probably doesn’t need additional emphasis, but what Sinner achieved on Sunday by winning the Italian Open is one of the greatest accomplishments in recent tennis history. He’s on a generational tear, to say the least.

It was fitting that Sinner made incredible tennis history while playing in his home country of Italy on Sunday. It took 50 years for an Italian man to win the tournament. When Sinner finished match point, he had the biggest smile on his face as he listened to the Italian crowd roar his name. A goosebump-worthy moment, for sure.

Sinner has already won five titles this year. The record for the most in a calendar year is Djokovic with six he won in 2015. Sinner has plenty of time left this season to break that record, too.

When winning his quarterfinal matchup against Andrey Rublev on Tuesday, Sinner beat Djokovic’s long-standing record of winning 31 ATP 1000 matches in a row by reaching a 32-match streak. With the Italian Open win, Sinner’s streak continues at 34. As for matches in general, not just at ATP 1000 events, Sinner has won 51 of the past 53 matches he’s played in. It’s his 29th win in a row when including all events. He last lost in Doha at the ATP 500 event to Jakub Mensik.

With the French Open starting next week and Wimbledon following about a month later, the next ATP 1000 tournament won’t take place until the beginning of August with the National Bank Open, which Sinner did not compete in last year. He could make an appearance at the Cincinnati Open right after, where he lost in the final because of injury to Carlos Alcaraz.

Before looking to continue his ATP 1000 winning streak, Sinner has a bigger goal at hand: completing his career grand slam. He just needs to win the French Open to win all four majors in his career thus far. He lost in a five-set thriller to Alcaraz last year, and Alcaraz will not be competing this year as he deals with injury. As the world No. 1 and because of the historic streak he’s on, Sinner is seen as the big favorite to win in Paris. It’ll be exciting to see if someone can stop him, or if his 2026 will continue being outstanding.

Novak Djokovic congratulates Sinner for joining him in history

Shortly after Sinner won the Italian Open to capture the career Golden Masters, Djokovic posted two pictures on his Instagram stories to congratulate the 24-year-old.

“Congraulations Jannik! Impressive,” Djokovic wrote on one pic. “Welcome to the exclusive club,” he wrote on the second.

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Madison Williams
MADISON WILLIAMS

Madison Williams is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated, where she specializes in tennis but covers a wide range of sports from a national perspective. Before joining SI in 2022, Williams worked at The Sporting News. Having graduated from Augustana College, she completed a master’s in sports media at Northwestern University.

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