Sinner conquers tennis throne with victory over Alcaraz

Italy's tennis star Jannik Sinner has won the final thriller in Monte-Carlo against Carlos Alcaraz and replaced the Spaniard as world number one once again. Sinner (24) beat his perennial rival 7:6 (7:5), 6:3 in difficult outdoor conditions and is now number one in men's tennis again.

It feels "great", said Sinner in an interview on the court after the victory in his adopted home of Monaco: "This means a lot to me." The fact that he is also world number one again as a result is "of secondary importance".

Sinner is only the third male tennis pro in history to win four Masters 1000 tournaments in a row, after Serbia's Novak Djokovic and Spain's Rafael Nadal. He triumphed in Paris at the beginning of November 2025 and most recently achieved the so-called "Sunshine Double" with victories in Indian Wells and Miami. On the way there, he had beaten Alexander Zverev in the semi-finals - he also managed to do so at the clay court event in the Principality.

Wind causes problems

The relatively strong wind on Court Rainier III visibly caused problems for the singles finalists, particularly on serve. Both Sinner and Alcaraz dropped a service early on and the error rate was also unusually high for both exceptional players. "I don't allow excuses for tennis players, today I allow the wind excuse," said former player Andrea Petkovic as Sky expert.

Sinner showed the better nerves in the tiebreak of the first set. In the second set, he was not impressed by an early break and converted his first match point after 2:15 hours for his seventh win in his 17th duel with Alcaraz.