The No. 1 battle: After reclaiming top spot, Sinner sets sights on French Open

Rome: Sure, Jannik Sinner is pleased to have the No. 1 ranking back.

His biggest takeaways from a victory over Carlos Alcaraz in the Monte Carlo Masters final, though, were finally winning a big clay-court title and doing it by beating his biggest rival on his most challenging surface.

“It means a lot to me, because it means I’m progressing,” Sinner said.

For Sinner, it was a first step toward achieving his main goal for 2026: winning the French Open to complete a career Grand Slam. That’s an achievement that Alcaraz completed when he won the Australian Open in January — making him at 22 the youngest man to have held aloft all four Major trophies. “Winning a big tournament on clay was one of our goals for this year so there’s no better way to start,” said Simone Vagnozzi, who coaches the 24-year-old Sinner alongside Darren Cahill.

Sunday’s meeting was the first on clay between the top two men’s tennis players since Alcaraz saved three match points and came back to beat Sinner in a fifth-set tiebreaker in last year’s French Open final.

“I’m not surprised,” Alcaraz said. “We’ve already seen his level on this surface and he’s improving a lot year after year. He can win any tournament on any surface. He understands the game very well on clay.” While Alcaraz claimed this year’s first major in Australia, Sinner has now followed up his “Sunshine Double” of hard-court titles in Indian Wells, California, and Miami with another Masters series trophy. Sinner is on a 17-match winning streak during which he has dropped only one set — in the third round in Monte Carlo against Tomas Machac.

In the new rankings released Monday, Sinner moved 110 points ahead of Alcaraz, who had been No. 1 since November.

“There are two big Slams coming up, Paris and London. Let’s see where we are after those tournaments,” Sinner added.