As Madrid Open Begins, Sinner Chases After Fifth-Straight ATP Masters 1000 Title

Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner
Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz (photo: Jürgen Hasenkopf)

MADRID/WASHINGTON, April 21, 2026 (by Michael Dickens)

As the 2026 Mutua Madrid Open begins on Wednesday, the landscape for this year’s second ATP Masters 1000 on red clay has taken on a new look since Monte-Carlo earlier this month. That’s because this year’s field will be absent of two-time Madrid Open champion Carlos Alcaraz of Spain as well as three-time titlist Novak Djokovic of Serbia.

With World No. 2 Alcaraz and World No. 4 Djokovic nursing injuries, as well as World No. 7 Taylor Fritz of the United States and former Top 10 Jack Draper of Great Britain (now ranked 28th) – it means that current World No. 1 Jannik Sinner, who arrives in Madrid hot off of winning four-consecutive ATP Masters 1000 titles going back to Paris last October, including the recent Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, is the favorite to win his first Madrid Open crown. The defending Madrid Open champion is Casper Ruud of Norway, who is seeded 12th this year.

The 24-year-old Sinner from Italy, who was seeded No. 1 when the 96-player men’s draw was revealed on Monday, has played in the Madrid Open three times. His best result was a quarterfinal finish in 2024 and his lifetime record in Madrid is 6-2. After missing the 2025 tournament while serving out the final weeks of a three-month suspension, this year Sinner is expected to go all the way at Caja Magica.

Sinner has won 17 consecutive matches since bowing to Czechia’s Jakub Mensik in Doha back in February. He’s won three-straight titles in Indian Wells, Miami and Monte-Carlo. Now, Sinner will chase after a fifth-consecutive ATP Masters 1000 crown, which if he’s successful, would tie the record held by Djokovic that was set when he won five straight spread of 2014 and 2015.

During Sinner’s pre-tournament news conference on Tuesday, he said he embraces the challenge of playing in Madrid. He explained it this way:

“I think here it’s a very unique playing style,” he said. “It’s very high altitude and it can be windy at times, so it’s very difficult to play. But I think every different kind of clay court can help me as I am trying to improve as a player.

“Here, it might be one of the most challenging ones because of certain things and also depending on who you play… You have to adapt yourself. But I have never played very well here, so let’s see how it goes this year. But I’m very happy to be here.”

After a first-round bye, Sinner’s run to a fifth-straight ATP Masters 1000 title could shape up this way: second round versus qualifier/lucky loser; third round versus No. 32 seed Gabriel Diallo of Canada; fourth round versus No. 15 seed Tommy Paul of the United States; quarterfinals versus No. 5 seed Alex de Minaur of Australia; semifinal versus No. 4 seed Ben Shelton of the United States; final versus No. 2 seed Alexander Zverev of Germany.

“I always go day by day with tough challenges in front of me, starting from the first day against a qualifier, who’s already had a couple of rounds here,” Sinner said. “Then we’ll see. But I’m happy to be here. I’m just trying to figure out how to play on this surface here in Madrid.

“I think people and fans are very passionate here and this is something that’s important for us players to see. When we see a good connection with the crowd, it makes it very special to play. And I do believe that I have a good relationship with Spain, also because of Carlos. We have a good friendship off the court and I think people can recognize this in a nice and positive way.”

Around the Caja Magica

Men’s main draw play begins Wednesday with three featured matches scheduled on Manolo Santana Stadium. They include: Qualifier Dino Prizmic of Croatia, ranked 87th, versus No. 92 Matteo Berrettini of Italy; No. 93 Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain, who indicated recently that he will retire at the end of this season, versus No. 75 Thiago Agustin Tirante of Argentina; and 42nd-ranked wild card Rafael Jodar of Spain versus No. 109 Jesper De Jong of the Netherlands.

Jodar recently cracked the ATP Top 50 following his first ATP Tour title at Marrakech followed by a semifinal finish last week in Barcelona.

On Arantxa Sanchez Stadium, No. 44 Zizou Bergs of Belgium kicks off play against No. 51 Marin Cilic of Croatia. Also, No. 63 Hubert Hurkacz of Poland will face 136th-ranked Portuguese qualifier Jaime Faria. 

Other players in action on the first day of the men’s main draw include: No. 41 Tomas Machac of Czechia, No. 43 Alejandro Tabilo of Chile, No. 66 Vit Kopriva of Czechia, No. 46 Adrian Mannarino of France, No. 81 Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany, No. 83 Sebastian Ofner of Austria, No. 61 Jenson Brooksby of the United States and No. 62 Lorenzo Sonego of Italy.

Wednesday’s Madrid Open order of play

Madrid Open men’s singles draw

By the numbers

There are seven Spanish men in the 96-player main draw field of this year’s Madrid Open. They include: Roberto Bautista Agut, wild card Rafael Jodar, qualifier Daniel Merida, No. 20 seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, wild card Pablo Carreño Busta, Jaume Munar and wild card Martin Landaluce.

“Quotable …”

“I talked with him. It’s a very big pity to not have him here and also Novak, the two biggest stars in tennis. So, we still hope it’s going to be a good tournament, but of course, not seeing them, it makes a big difference.”

– World No. 1 and top seed Jannik Sinner, during his pre-tournament news conference Tuesday, discussing the absences of Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic from this year’s Madrid Open field.

 

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