Jannik Sinner ended a 50-year wait for Italian men’s tennis on Sunday, beating Casper Ruud 6-4, 6-4 on the red clay of the Foro Italico to become the first home player to lift the Italian Open men’s singles trophy since Adriano Panatta in 1976.
The world No. 1 sealed the title in one hour and 45 minutes in front of a packed Campo Centrale, with Italian President Sergio Mattarella in attendance and Panatta himself seated in the front row. The 1976 champion later joined the trophy ceremony, prompting Sinner to tell him: “Adriano, after 50 years we’ve won back a very important trophy.”
Career Golden Masters. The victory carried weight far beyond home soil. Rome was the only ATP Masters 1000 title missing from Sinner’s collection, and his win makes him just the second man in tennis history — after Novak Djokovic — to complete the career sweep of all nine Masters 1000 events. Djokovic took until age 31 to achieve the feat in Cincinnati in 2018; Sinner has done it at 24.
How the match unfolded. Ruud, who arrived with a 0-4 head-to-head record against the Italian, made the brighter start and broke early as Sinner missed seven first serves in a scratchy opening.
The Norwegian held the lead until 4-4 in the first set before Sinner found his timing, broke for 5-4 and served out the opener with an overhead smash. The second set followed a similar pattern of long, physical rallies, with Ruud working hard to extend exchanges, but Sinner held firm to close out the championship 6-4.
“There was a lot of tension on both sides, it was not perfect tennis from both of us, but I am really happy,” Sinner said after the match. “[It has been] an incredible past two and a half months.
I try to put myself in the best possible position every time and do the best I can. Not every day is simple, but I am really, really happy.” He singled out his physical team for praise, calling them “as important as the tennis coaches.”
Streak and what’s next. Sinner has now won 29 consecutive matches dating back to his quarter-final defeat to Jakub Mensik at the Qatar Open on February 19. He is 17-0 on clay this season and arrives at Roland Garros, which begins on Monday, as the overwhelming favourite — particularly with Carlos Alcaraz currently sidelined by a right wrist injury.
The French Open is the only Grand Slam still missing from Sinner’s collection, alongside Olympic gold. A title in Paris would replicate Panatta’s 1976 Rome–Roland Garros clay-court double, a feat no Italian man has matched in the 50 years since.
