Jannik Sinner is adding significant chapters in the history of tennis. Which in itself is already extraordinary, exciting and you too can use all the adjectives that come to mind, but it takes on the contours of a legend if all this happens after the Martian era marked by Federer, Djokovic and Nadal.

Because obtaining records in this sport after the raid made by the Big Three was something unimaginable even for the most optimistic.

For those less accustomed to the rolls of honor of tennis, it is also appropriate to offer a yardstick to understand the extent of his exploits. No one had ever won five consecutive Masters 1000s. Our champion did it, protected and raised, on and off the pitch, by the Vagnozzi-Cahill-Vittur triad. Being lucky enough to lead a fortune hides pitfalls behind every move: the risk of causing damage is very high. Sinner’s evolution over the last four seasons is something rare not only in tennis but in all disciplines.

Only Rafa

Paris ’25, then the Sunshine Double (Indian Wells and Miami) and the clay pairing of Monte Carlo-Madrid in these first months of 2026. That is to say 28 matches won consecutively, of which 26 without losing sets. Not only that. Youngest ever to reach all 9 Masters 1000 finals at 24, surpassing Djokovic (25), Nadal (27) and Federer (30). First to win the first four Masters 1000 of the season and to win the Sunshine Double without losing a single set.

Jannik himself, who had previously “just” won the Umag 2022 tournament on clay, runs today alongside the King of Kings. In the history of tennis only one player has painted the perfect year on clay, that is, winning Monte Carlo, Madrid, Rome and Roland Garros one in a row. It was 2010 and his name is Rafa. To think that Sinner even has the opportunity to match Nadal is something that gives shivers.

The hard court phenomenon, capable of very high levels even on grass, today is simply the strongest player in the world even on clay. And it’s not hyperbole: if he had converted one of those three match points at Paris 2025, there would already be a Musketeers Cup in his home on the French Riviera.

To think that after Australia…

Do you remember the moans and sentences after the Italian’s defeat against Djokovic in Australia and the knockout with Mensik in Doha? Alcaraz, fresh from his seventh Slam, was the strongest player in the universe, while Sinner suddenly went back to being that monotonous player with too few solutions to counter the Spanish artist. Today the scenario has been reversed, despite Carlitos’ wrist injury which forced him to miss Madrid and then also Rome and Paris.

Sinner had never started a season with such high numbers: in the first four months of the year he collected 30 victories and only two defeats, playing six tournaments and winning four. To have a point of comparison and without counting 2025, conditioned by the disqualification that took away three months of the circuit: in 2023, the year that brought him to the top 4, closed the same period with 27 victories in 9 tournaments, and only one title; in 2024 he reached 26 successes in 6 tournaments, with three titles.

The fact that he won precisely those tournaments that he was forced to miss in 2025 confirms what we have already known for some time. Devastating fundamentals, a serve capable of being decisive in the most important moments of matches, a response from the top 5 in the history of tennis, but it is in his head, in his attitude to work and in his ability to improve that Jannik Sinner is already one of the best players who have ever held a racket.

Two thrilling months

For the same theory as before, it is now necessary not to make the same mistake. Jannik is now dictating the pace, on the run, but history and the showcase are measured against the Slams and the next two months will be very important for the ambitions of the world number 1. Triumphing over Philippe Chatrier and then trying to repeat himself at the Championships would mean something “very simple”: Sinner would probably be playing the best season ever seen by a tennis player.

Is it possible for that to happen? In tennis, as in life, luck is not a detail. It’s an ingredient. In Match Point Woody Allen has his character say: “Whoever said ‘I’d rather have luck than talent’ perceived the essence of life.” And he was right. Because there is no champion, not even the most gifted, the one who draws heavily on his own talent, who has not benefited, at least once, from a favorable circumstance in the decisive moment.

Luckily, you don’t win seven matches of a Slam, let’s be clear. But if Soderling hadn’t eliminated Nadal in 2009, would Federer ever have lifted the Musketeers Cup? Without the rain interruptions, would Agassi really have managed to overturn the ’99 final against Medvedev after falling two sets down? If Djokovic hadn’t hit the line judge at the 2020 US Open, would Thiem have ever won a Slam? And if Dimitrov hadn’t been injured at the start of the third set, would Sinner really have won Wimbledon last year? The examples are endless.

Will he handle the pressure?

Having made the necessary conjurations, the real question mark in Sinner’s run-up to the Roland Garros final revolves around two questions: will he be able to handle the pressure of being the favourite, the one with three gears more than his opponents? And will he be able to maintain monstrous levels for another four weeks, two in Rome and two in Paris, after the effort in Madrid?

The first question is too easy: for great champions, as Billie Jean King teaches, pressure is a privilege. I think the second is legitimate, but if there is a player capable of doing it, it is Sinner. Even at the cost of sacrificing the Italian Internationals? Difficult, when the number one players take to the pitch they want to win. Always. Do you know how wonderful it would be to win Rome on the fiftieth anniversary of the last feat of an Italian tennis player (Panatta Magic Year 1976)?