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Elena Ryabkina has extended her rankings lead over Coco Gauff as the world No 2 after defeating Mirra Andreeva to reach the Stuttgart Open final.

The Kazakh reeled off eight of the final nine games against the world No 9 to claim a 7-5, 6-1 victory.

It is Rybakina’s first victory against the Russian since 2023 after losing both of their 2025 encounters – in Dubai and Indian Wells.

The match also came shortly after her late-night thriller against Leylah Fernandez, which finished close to midnight.

“First set, we were going pretty even,” the world no 2 commented during her on-court interview.

“I had some opportunities to go up but didn’t take them. But I’m happy that in these important moments, my serve worked and I stayed aggressive.

“Then in the second set being up, I was more free to hit, to step in, to play even more aggressive.

“So I’m pretty happy with the performance. It was really solid. And I guess the three-hour match yesterday, it did help me today.”

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She will next face Karolina Muchova, who battled past Elina Svitolina 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 to snap a three-match losing streak against the Ukrainian.

The Stuttgart Open marks Rybakina’s third final of 2026, having also reached the showpiece match at the Australian Open and Indian Wells.

Muchova holds a 2-1 edge in their head-to-head, with all three encounters coming on hard courts.

The Czech was also victorious in their most recent meeting, winning 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 at the Brisbane International in January.

“I thought it was working, so I was trying to – that’s what exactly happened in the second set,” Muchova commented during her post-match press conference.

“I think I kind of start to play the way she likes to play and play the long rallies.

“Then I just realized, ‘okay, I have to again be more aggressive and try to approach the net or change the rhythm.’ I think that’s the way that it’s good for me to play against her.”

As a result of reaching the final, Rybakina is confirmed to gain at least 217 ranking points and is sitting on 8325 points in the Live WTA Rankings.

This extends her lead over world No 3 Gauff, who fell in the quarter-finals of the event to Muchova, to 1,047 points.

However, Rybakina remains 2,570 ranking points behind world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the Live WTA Rankings.

If the Kazakh were to win the final and lift the trophy in Stuttgart, she would gain another 175 points, extending her lead over Gauff to 1,222.

In more positive news for Rybakina, she is not defending any ranking points at the Madrid Masters, having already counted her sixth-best WTA 1000 result of 65 points – higher than her 2025 tally in the Spanish capital.

Meanwhile, world No 3 Gauff is defending 650 points, while world No 1 Sabalenka is defending the maximum 1,000 points after having lifted the trophy.

The WTA Madrid Masters will take place from April 22 – May 2.

The post Stuttgart Open: Elena Rybakina extends rankings lead over Gauff after downing Andreeva to reach final appeared first on Tennis365.

Alexander Zverev’s difficult 2026 season continued with a disappointing semi-final defeat to Flavio Cobolli at the ATP 500 event in Munich, a result that will see him drop 300 ranking points.

The German had produced a successful Sunshine Double and Monte Carlo, reaching the last four and losing to Jannik Sinner in straight sets at each.

However, on Saturday, he fell to Cobolli 6-3, 6-3 after being broken on three occasions and winning just 30% of his second-serve points.

Zverev put much of the blame for the loss on his packed schedule and hopes to make the most of his days off, prior to the Madrid Masters, remarking: “I have played a lot of tennis lately and my legs just weren’t there anymore. A few days off will definitely help.”

The second clay-court Masters 1000 event will take place from April 22 – May 3 in the Spanish capital.

Meanwhile, Cobolli was overcome with emotion after his victory, laying down 32 winners and losing just eight points on his first serve.

“It was one of my best matches ever, against one of my best friends on Tour,” said the Italian during his post-match interview.

“He’s a really good guy and we have a good relationship with everyone on his team, so it was a little bit tough to play against him.

“But today I think I played one of my best matches, and I’m really happy about my performance.”

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Prior to the clash, Cobolli had lost all five of his contested sets against the German with both of those meetings coming in 2025.

Additionally, he was 1-16 against top-10 players heading into the match with the only victory coming against world No 9 Holger Rune via retirement at the Madrid Masters.

As a result of the loss, Zverev drops 300 points in the rankings – after gaining 500 points from last year’s Munich title run.

This places the German on 5255 points in the Live ATP Rankings, just 545 points ahead of world No 4 Novak Djokovic.

The Serb has competed in just two events since October – the Australian Open and Indian Wells Masters – recently withdrawing from the Madrid Masters.

It is unclear when the 24-time Grand Slam champion will return to the tour, having also skipped the Italian Open last season and, instead, opting to play in the Geneva Open – where he won his 100^th singles title.

Meanwhile, Alcaraz will drop 280 ranking points after having withdrawn from the Barcelona Open after having played just one match.

This extends the gap between Zverev and the world’s top two to 7705 ranking points.

In the quarter-finals, the world No 3 had beaten the tough Argentine Francisco Cerundolo in three sets and was clearly impressed by his performance.

“I thought it was an incredible level,” said Zverev after that victory.

“Even in the first set when I was up 4-1, he started playing unbelievable. He started returning unbelievable.

“My first-serve percentage was very high, and he started returning a foot in front of the baseline. So there was nothing I could do, to be honest. I was happy with my level even in the first set.

“Definitely happy to get the win today against Francisco, for the first time on clay.”

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Iga Swiatek’s wait for a semi-final appearance at a WTA Tour event in 2026 continues after Mirra Andreeva ended her Stuttgart Open run in the last eight.

The six-time Grand Slam winner overcame a sluggish start to the match as she lost her serve in the opening game, but then broke twice to take the first set, before Andreeva edged the break count 3-2 in the second to take it to a decider where two more breaks secured the 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 win.

Swiatek had also lost in the quarter-final of the Australian Open, Qatar Open and Indian Wells Open while she was upset by fellow Pole Magda Linette in the second round of the Miami Open.

The Miami Open was her last tournament with Wim Fissette as her coach, as she split with the Belgian after her exit, before appointing Francisco Roig a few weeks later.

Having spent just over a week training with Roig at the Rafa Nadal Academy ahead of Stuttgart, Swiatek admitted in her post-match press conference that they still have work ahead.

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Q: Iga, I guess just talk us through your thoughts on the match and immediate reaction, please.

IGA SWIATEK: “Yeah, I mean, not the result I wanted, for sure. I think my baseline game was fine, and I see a progress there comparing to the last tournaments.

“But for sure, overall, it wasn’t enough. So, yeah.”

Q: A small sample size of two matches working with Francis. Curious, just based off the few matches with him being in your box, how do you think it worked in terms of on-court coaching and things like that and how it could help going to Madrid and Rome?

IGA SWIATEK: “I think for now, you know, we’re getting to know each other. He’s giving me space to kind of figure it out on matches. You know, I have a clear vision of what to do. It’s just sometimes hard to do that. That wasn’t like a main thing today, I would say.”

Q: I think the level was very high from both players, you and Mirra. I just wonder if you saw which kind of, that you’re trying to implement some aspect in your game, which one can be the most, I don’t know, the most positive information that you can take from this match?

IGA SWIATEK: “Yeah, I think, you know, there were moments where I felt like I was playing better, for sure, than other moments where I dropped the level. She played better for a while, so I think these parts of the match that I played well, I felt like, you know, full control over what’s going on. So this is something positive. You just need to keep that towards the end of the match.

“I think the baseline game was, you know, it made sense. I felt like I kind of knew what I was doing, and this is something positive, because honestly, for, you know, previous matches, it wasn’t always like that.

“I think I returned the first serve of her pretty well, looking at the speed and everything. So these are the positives.”

Q: Thank you for coming after this kind of defeat. It’s a sign of respect for us, so thank you for being here. In the decisive, you had 2-Love and then a breakpoint, I guess, you remember the moment. What happened afterwards? Because it was five games for her. It was a landslide. Did she change something, or it was your fault for that?

IGA SWIATEK: “Honestly, to judge properly, I will have to watch. From my point of view, for sure I didn’t feel super confident on my serve, so I felt like I could serve more precise, and sometimes, you know, I wanted to, like, make the same serves as in first set, but they flew in a different place, like closer to her, so it didn’t make sense that much.

“I feel like – yeah, I would need to honestly watch, because besides that, I felt like I maintained the level from the baseline, but, you know, it was already, like, a long match, so I will need to, you know, see closer, and yeah, just watch.”

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Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic are the highest-profile players to withdraw from the Madrid Open, but the list continues to grow with a few more players likely to join them before the tournament gets underway.

The joint ATP-WTA 1000 event in the Spanish capital starts on 21 April with the women’s first-round matches before the men kick off their campaign the following day.

Casper Ruud is the defending champion as he won his maiden ATP Masters 1000 title 12 months ago when he defeated Jack Draper in the final on the clay at Caja Magica while Aryna Sabalenka won her third title in Madrid with victory over Coco Gauff.

But tournament organisers have suffered a couple of devastating blows as two-time champion and local hero Alcaraz won’t be in the main draw as he has been sidelined by an arm injury he sustained at the Barcelona Open.

Alcaraz was going to be the big drawcard for Spaniards, but he will now miss the tournament for the second consecutive year and his withdrawal came just hours after tennis great Djokovic also confirmed he won’t participate.

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Djokovic, a three-time winner of the Madrid Open, announced, “I’m continuing my recovery” with the number of ATP stars to pull out currently sitting at eight.

Jannik Sinner is set to be the top seed, although there are still doubts over his participation, and he will be followed by Alexander Zverev, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Alex de Minaur and Ben Shelton, according to the latest Live Rankings.

ATP Madrid Open withdrawal list

• Carlos Alcaraz (world No 2) – replaced by Sebastian Ofner
• Novak Djokovic (world No 4) – replaced by Adam Walton
• Taylor Fritz (world No 8) – replaced by Roberto Bautista Agut
• Holger Rune (world No 27) – replaced by Francisco Comesana
• Sebastian Korda (world No 43) – replaced by Alexander Shevchenko
• Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard (world No 53) – replaced by Alexandre Muller
• Arthur Cazaux (world No 71) – replaced by Alexander Blockx
• Kamil Majchrzak (world No 73) – replaced by Thiago Agustin Tirante

2025 runner-up Draper is another player who could miss the tournament as he was forced to retire from his first-round match at Barcelona due to a knee injury.

WTA Madrid Open withdrawal list

The WTA main draw remains strong as the top 20 players are still on the entry list as Sabalenka is set to defend her title with Elena Rybakina, Coco Gauff, Iga Swiatek and Jessica Pegula completing the top five.

Emma Navarro and Maya Joint are so far the only two seeded players who have withdrawn from the first clay-court WTA 1000 event of the 2026 season.

• Emma Navarro (world No 27) – replaced by Ashlyn Krueger
• Maya Joint (world No 30) – replaced by Moyuka Uchijima
• Sonay Kartal (world No 55) – replaced by Petra Marcinko
• Varvara Gracheva (world No 59) – replaced by Eva Lys
• Veronika Kudermetova (world No 62) – replaced by Taylor Townsend

Former Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova, currently at No 42 in the rankings, is also set to join the list as she has been charged by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) with refusing a doping test.

The Czech has not played any WTA Tour events since January, but her withdrawal is yet to be confirmed by organisers.

The post Madrid Open withdrawals: 13 stars out as Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz join growing list appeared first on Tennis365.

Jannik Sinner returned to the top spot in the ATP Rankings last week after overtaking Carlos Alcaraz and now has an opportunity to increase his lead.

At the beginning of March, Sinner found himself 3,150 points behind his Spanish rival in the rankings with Alcaraz dominating the first two months of the year with back-to-back titles at the Australian Open and Qatar Open.

But the Italian has wiped out that advantage as he has won three consecutive ATP Masters 1000 titles, earning a maximum of 3,000 points as he didn’t have any points to defend from 2025 while Alcaraz dropped points in Indian Wells, Miami and Monte Carlo.

On the back of his Monte Carlo Masters title run, Sinner started this week with a 110-point lead over the seven-time Grand Slam winner as the Italian had 13,350 points compared to his rival’s 13,240.

But that lead grew to 390 points this week without Sinner lifting a finger as Alcaraz’s withdrawal from the Barcelona Open meant he was unable to defend his 330 points from his runners-up finish 12 months ago.

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And the Spaniard has suffered another setback as the wrist injury will also keep him out of action from next week’s Madrid Open, giving Sinner a chance to widen the gap at the top.

“Madrid is like home to me – one of the most special stops on the calendar – and that’s why it hurts so much not to be able to play here for the second year in a row,” Alcaraz said in a statement.

“It’s especially painful not to be there in front of my fans at such an important tournament.”

Rankings Impact

As Alcaraz mentioned, he will miss the ATP 1000 event on home soil for consecutive years so, on the upside, he doesn’t have any points to defend from 2025.

But on the other side of the coin, Sinner also doesn’t have any points to defend as he also didn’t feature 12 months ago as the Madrid Open was the last tournament he missed following his three-month ban.

The four-time Grand Slam winner is also yet to confirm if he will compete in the Spanish capital this year, as his team believe the Italian Open and French Open are more important, with Italian media reporting he will only make a decision later on Saturday.

If Sinner does indeed take part in the Madrid Open, then he has the potential to open a lead of more than 1,390 points over Alcaraz with a title run.

That would mean he would keep the No 1 ranking going into the French Open and he will also be the favourite to be top of the rankings after Roland Garros as Alcaraz is the defending champion while Sinner will drop 650 points after finishing runner-up.

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Carlos Alcaraz has withdrawn from the Madrid Masters after failing to sufficiently recover from the injury which he suffered at the Barcelona Open.

Most recently, the Spaniard was in action at the ATP 500 on Tuesday, defeating Otto Virtanen 6-4, 6-2 in the opening round.

However, despite the scoreline, Alcaraz looked extremely concerned by wrist discomfort towards the end of the first set.

The next day, he opted to skip practice and then withdrew from the tournament entirely.

The world No 2 was next scheduled to participate in the Madrid Masters, taking place from April 22 – May 3, an event that he has now also withdrawn from.

“There are some pieces of news that are very difficult to share,” said the six-time Grand Slam champion in a post on Instagram.

“Madrid is like home to me – one of the most special stops on the calendar – and that’s why it hurts so much not to be able to play here for the second year in a row.

“It’s especially painful not to be there in front of my fans at such an important tournament. Thank you, as always, for your support, and I hope to see you all again soon.”

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Carlos Alcaraz Garfia (@carlitosalcarazz)

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The Spaniard also skipped the event in the Spanish capital last season, due to right leg abductor discomfort.

Less than 48 hours prior to his Barcelona Open first round, Alcaraz had suffered a 7-6(5), 6-3 loss to Jannik Sinner in the final of the Monte Carlo Masters.

As a result, the Spaniard lost the world No 1 spot for the first time since mid-2025.

Alcaraz immediately flew to the ATP 500 event and looked set on attempting to capture his third title in Barcelona.

Even after taking the medical timeout against the Finn, he quelled concern in his post-match press conference and suggested that the discomfort was not a novel issue.

“It’s just discomfort, discomfort that pops up, considering the few days I’ve had to recover, when everything has been practically back-to-back, so in the end things come up in some unusual movements,” the world No 2 stated.

“We’ve tried to calm ourselves down, try to keep going, and above all, be more relaxed, especially in the second set, and see what happens.

“It’s a discomfort I’ve had before, which has never led to anything more serious, so let’s hope it’s the same this time.”

The following day, he underwent scans which concluded that the injury was significantly more serious than first thought – with the exact diagnosis not being disclosed to the public.

“It’s a more serious injury than we all expected, and I have to listen to my body so it doesn’t affect me in the future,” Alcaraz stated during his withdrawal press conference.

“With great sadness, I have to return home and recover as quickly as possible for the upcoming tournaments.”

Alcaraz’s next scheduled tournament is the Italian Open, which takes place from May 6 – May 17.

The post Carlos Alcaraz withdraws from the Madrid Masters as injury concern grows – ‘It hurts me’ appeared first on Tennis365.

Toni Nadal has spoken out for the first time since Rafael Nadal was seen alongside a practising Iga Swiatek at his academy, clearing up rumours that the tennis legend would help coach the Pole.

Just days after her shock loss at the Miami Open to compatriot Magda Linette, Swiatek travelled to Mallorca for a week of practice at the Rafa Nadal Academy alongside new coach Francisco Roig.

Roig coached Nadal for nearly 20 years and helped the Spaniard win all of his 22 Grand Slams.

The Pole had been searching for a replacement for former coach Wim Fissette, who had filled the role for around 18 months.

However, whilst the purpose of the trip was for Swiatek to gain clay-court practice and further bond with Roig, Nadal was spotted courtside during nearly every practise – sparking coaching rumours.

Toni Nadal, the legend’s uncle and former coach, weighed in on the coaching discussion and gave a clear answer as to whether the younger Nadal will ever take up coaching.

“Swiatek asked Rafael if he could go to the academy, some advice and a coach,” revealed Toni Nadal during an interview with Mundo Deportivo.

“Francis Roig told him. And he, as someone linked to tennis for so long, likes to intervene, even if it’s minimal.

“No [he won’t coach], because his life is set up for other things. It’s very difficult. A coach has to dedicate himself 100%.

“My nephew has quite a few responsibilities for his own affairs. He lived more than twenty years on the courts; now he has many other things that require a lot of time, apart from the fact that he is very happy with the family, with his children.

“And the life of a coach is not easy either, more and more changes are being experienced.

“Nowadays, it’s more difficult. I experienced a different era with coaches like Lennart Bergelin and ‘Pato’ Alvarez, who were very strict and didn’t allow players much say.

“I’m not saying it should be like that, but respect has to go both ways – and if anything, there should be more respect for experience.

“These days, it can be difficult to work with some players, and we’re seeing more frequent coaching changes.

“When things go wrong, the coach is often blamed, rather than the player taking responsibility. I don’t know any coach who tells a player to miss shots – if you fail, it’s your responsibility. I said that to Felix [Auger-Aliassime] one day: don’t look for excuses.”

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Rafael Nadal retired from professional tennis, after more than 23 years on tour, in 2024 at the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga after struggling to return to form following major hip surgery.

Since then, the Spaniard has kept a relatively low profile, attending a few tennis tournaments and featuring in a handful of long-form interviews.

In addition to Swiatek, coaching changes have been in the news for months, given Alcaraz’s highly-discussed separation with Juan Carlos Ferrero – who he had worked with for seven years.

The Spaniard made the decision towards the end of the latest off-season, a move which surprised Toni Nadal.

“I was surprised, although I think there were other reasons behind it, because Alcaraz finished world No 1, won two Grand Slams and had a very strong season,” he analysed.

“It wasn’t a sporting issue – it was more of a personal matter for them.

“The player is still winning. I was asked in December whether the split would affect him, and I said not at all. That’s not because Ferrero didn’t do a great job, but because Alcaraz is simply that good.

“The foundations are already in place, and he has kept another coach he was working with last season, so I don’t expect any major change.”

Despite the split, Alcaraz went on to become the youngest man to win all four Grand Slams, breaking Rafael Nadal’s 2010 record.

Overall, the world No 2 increased his Grand Slam haul to six, two ahead of rival Jannik Sinner.

Toni Nadal believes that Alcaraz may continue to surpass expectations and win the remaining three Grand Slams in 2026.

“He could [complete the Calendar Grand Slam], because there are very few players capable of beating him,” he added.

“Sinner is one, but at Roland Garros I think Alcaraz has the edge – maybe 60-40. At Wimbledon, he is the favourite, and at the US Open as well.

“It’s possible, though not easy. I would give him around a 75% chance at Roland Garros, and about 60% at Wimbledon and the US Open.

“He is only 22 and look at what he has already achieved. If he stays on this path, it’s certainly possible [that he betters Novak Djokovic’s haul of 24 Grand Slams).

“Of course, a lot can happen over time, but if he continues playing at this level, he has a strong chance.

“He is an exceptional player, and I don’t currently see any younger player capable of surpassing him.”

Alcaraz will next compete in the Madrid Masters, which takes place from April 22 – May 3.

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The Madrid Open marks the first of two back-to-back WTA 1000 events on European soil and all the top players will feature at the 2026 edition.

World No 1 and defending champion Aryna Sabalenka will be the top seed and she will be joined in the draw by Elena Rybakina, Coco Gauff, Iga Swiatek, Jessica Pegula, Amanda Anisimova, Elina Svitolina, Jasmine Paolini, Mirra Andreeva and Victoria Mboko.

Sabalenka is on a high as she became the fifth woman to complete the Sunshine Double on the North American hard courts after winning the Indian Wells Open and Miami Open in March.

But the action has switched from hard courts to clay and most of the four-time Grand Slam winner’s rivals will head to Madrid with some matches on the red dirt under their belts while the Belarusian will be slightly undercooked.

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The world No 1 has not featured on the WTA Tour since she beat Gauff in the Miami Open as she opted to skip this week’s Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart.

Points The Big Names Will Drop In Madrid

The WTA uses a rolling 52-week cumulative system for the rankings and players have to defend points from corresponding periods/tournaments 12 months ago.

Those points drop at the start of a tournament and players then earn points for their round-by-round progression at that event.

Aryna Sabalenka – 1,000

The top seed will be under a bit of pressure in Madrid as she is the defending champion so she will drop 1,000 points at the start of the WTA 1000 event.

However, she is not in danger of losing the No 1 ranking after the tournament as she has a 2,787-point lead over Rybakina in the Live Rankings, although that could be reduced to 2,395 if the reigning Australian Open champion wins the Stuttgart Open.

Despite then dropping 1,000 points in Madrid, Sabalenka and will leave the Spanish capital at No 1 even if she loses early.

Elena Rybakina – 0

The Kazakh star lost in the third round last year, but according to ranking rules, she is keeping her sixth-best combined WTA 1000 result (65 points) as it is higher than the Madrid result, which does not need to be counted in her ranking points.

Coco Gauff – 650

The American recently overtook Swiatek at No 3 in the rankings, but she could start the Madrid Open behind the Pole in the rankings as they are separated by only a handful of points.

Gauff finished runner-up to Sabalenka last year so she will lose 650 points at the start of the event.

Iga Swiatek/Elina Svitolina – 390

World No 4 Swiatek and No 7 Svitolina lost against Gauff and Sabalenka, respectively, in the semi-finals at the 2025 tournament.

The Pole is set to move ahead of Gauff in the Live Rankings once their points come off, and Svitolina will likely remain in seventh.

Marta Kostyuk/Moyuka Uchijima/Mirra Andreeva/Madison Keys – 215

Quarter-finalists earn 215 points so Kostyuk, Uchijima, Andreeva and Keys will drop that tally.

Andreeva is currently at No 9 in the rankings, but she could move up depending on her results in Stuttgart while Keys could drop out of the top 20 and Kostyuk out of the top 30.

Uchijima is currently at No 86 and she is set to slip out of the top 100.

Jessica Pegula – 65

The American was upset by Uchijima in the third round last year so she will defend only 65 points.

Victoria Mboko – 32

The Canadian star, who sits at No 10 in the WTA Rankings, was still competing on the lower levels 12 months ago and she will defend points from her 18th-best result.

Others

Iva Jovic 100

World No 16 Jovic didn’t play in Madrid last year so the 18-year-old is defending 100 points from an ITF event 12 months ago.

Emma Raducanu/Alex Eala – 35

British No 1 Raducanu, who is yet to confirm if she will play in Madrid following her recent health struggles, lost to Kostyuk in the second round in 2025.

World No 45 Eala earned a wildcard last year and she made the most of it as she beat Viktoriya Tomova in her opener before losing against second seed Swiatek.

The post WTA Madrid Open: Points being dropped by Sabalenka, Gauff, Swiatek, Raducanu, Eala appeared first on Tennis365.

Novak Djokovic has confirmed he will not feature at the 2026 Madrid Open, which means he will once again head into a Grand Slam with limited matches under his belt.

The 22-time major winner has not featured on the ATP Tour since being beaten by Jack Draper in the round of 16 at the Indian Wells Open in mid-March as he skipped the Miami Open and Monte Carlo Masters, citing an unnamed injury.

The three-time Madrid champion was expected to make his 2026 clay-court debut in the Spanish capital next week as he was seen practising on clay in Marbella a few days ago, but he has taken to social media to reveal he won’t play.

“Madrid, unfortunately I won’t be able to compete @MutuaMadridOpen this year. I’m continuing my recovery in order to be back soon. Hasta pronto!” he wrote.

The tennis great has played only two tournaments so far in 2026, the Australian Open where he finished runner-up to Carlos Alcaraz and teh aforementioned Indian Wells Open.

What Is To Come?

The Italian Open will take place after the Madrid Open and last year Djokovic played in Spain, but not in Rome and he could well swap things around this year and head to Foro Italia for some matches on clay.

Having lost in the second round in Madrid, the former world No 1 then accepted a late entry into the Geneva Open – which took place a week before the French Open – and went on to win the tournament to secure his 100th ATP Tour singles trophy.

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It meant he started the 2025 French Open with only six matches on clay under his belt – four in Geneva and one at the Madrid Open as he lost in the second round against Matteo Arnaldi and one at Monte Carlo as he was beaten in his opening match by Alejandro Tabilo.

And despite being undercooked on the red dirt, Djokovic still went on to reach the semi-final at Roland Garros before losing in straight sets against Jannik Sinner.

The Serbian’s withdrawal won’t have much of an impact on his position in the ATP Rankings as he will only drop 10 points while he has a points lead of more than 700 over fifth-placed Felix Auger-Aliassime.

As for the Madrid Open, it leaves organisers facing the possibility of being without the three biggest names in men’s tennis as Carlos Alcaraz is struggling with a forearm injury while world No 1 Jannik Sinner has admitted he is yet to decide if he will compete.

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Jannik Sinner has a chance to set a new ATP Masters 1000 title-winning streak record, but it remains to be seen if he will chase that milestone or take an extended break.

The world No 1 has won four consecutive Masters 1000 tournaments as he followed up his Paris Masters title from last November with the Sunshine Double Indian Wells and Miami Open in March before collecting the Monte Carlo Masters trophy last Sunday.

His quadruple saw him emulate Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal on the list of players to win four ATP 1000 events in a row with the Serbian achieving the feat three times (2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16) while Nadal did it in 2013.

Djokovic, though, twice managed to win five consecutive Masters events that he participated in, but during both of those runs he missed a tournament in between.

Back in 2011, he won the Indian Wells Open and Miami Open, but then missed the Monte Carlo Masters before returning with titles at Madrid Open, Italian Open and Canadian Open.

The tennis great’s second streak started with the 2015 Paris Masters and he followed it up with the Indian Wells, Miami Open and Monte Carlo titles before missing Madrid. He then returned in Rome to win the Italian Open.

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So Sinner has a chance to go where no other ATP player has gone before since the Masters series was adopted in 1990 as he could make it five in a row with a title run at the upcoming Madrid Open.

But the four-time Grand Slam winner faces a major decision as he has hinted he could skip the Spanish event in order to be fresh for the Italian Open and French Open.

Sinner has a win-loss record of 24-2 so far in 2026 and 17 of those wins were collected in just over a month from 7 March with his opening match at the Indian Wells Open to 12 April when he beat Carlos Alcaraz in the Monte Carlo final.

And while Alcaraz signed up for the Barcelona Open, Sinner made a shrewd decision not to enter any events this week as he wanted some rest after his recent exertions.

But that week might not be enough as he confirmed after the Monte Carlo final that he will “evaluate with my team whether to go to Madrid or not”.

Sinner is set to travel to Madrid on Saturday, but Italian media reports he will only make a decision on whether or not to play after he practices at Caja Magica.

Alcaraz has already suffered a setback following his decision to play in Barcelona, as he picked up a forearm injury during his first-round win and was forced to withdraw from the tournament, raising doubts about his participation in Madrid.

Sinner and Alcaraz don’t have any points to defend in Madrid and the Italian would no doubt prefer to win the Italian Open on home soil before an assault at the French Open.

Last year, Sinner finished runner-up to Alcaraz both in Rome and Roland Garros and he will be all too aware of the importance of being fresh as he lost the French Open in five sets against the Spaniard.

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