Jannik Sinner is eyeing up a complete set of ATP Masters 1000 titles as he returns to his Italian homeland this week and former British No 1 Greg Rusedski has given his verdict on whether the relentless dominance of the top player in men’s tennis is in danger of becoming boring.
Sinner’s demolition of No 2 seed Alexander Zverev in Sunday’s Madrid Open final highlighted the chasm in class between the very best in the world and the chasing pack, with the defeated German confirming what we had all seen after that match.
“I think everybody’s struggling against him,” said Zverev. “He’s won the last five Masters events, so it’s not like I’m the only one losing to him.
“I’m just losing to him more because I get to him every single time and I lose to him. So, it’s like that. Today doesn’t make sense to talk much about strategy, it was absolutely a terrible match by me. I don’t think there’s much strategy involved.
“I think he’s very stable. He doesn’t have dips, he doesn’t have phases where he goes down. I think that’s why he’s world No. 1. To me, that’s more spectacular, I think, keeping the level the whole time.
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“I think there’s a big gap between Sinner and everybody else right now. It’s quite simple. I think there’s a big gap between Sinner and everybody else. And I think there’s a big gap between Alcaraz, myself, maybe Novak, and everybody else. I think there are two gaps right now.
“It’s difficult to say that there’s not a gap between Sinner and everybody else if he hasn’t lost a match in Masters events since Shanghai.”
There have been suggestions that Sinner’s takeover of the men’s game in the absence of the injured Carlos Alcaraz could lead to a dip in interest over the next few weeks, but Rusedski has suggested we are not at that stage yet.
If Sinner wins the Italian Open, he will complete the full set of ATP Masters 1000 titles and should he then clinch the French Open title in Paris after that, he will join the short list of players to win all four Grand Slam titles.
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Rusedski argues Sinner’s chase for a place in the history books makes his winning run a source of interest, even though he accepts new challengers will need to rise.
“I don’t think it would be bad because it’s history-making,” said Rusedski on his podcast.
“If he wins everything on the board, he’s won all nine Masters series. Imagine he has all nine master series and all four majors at such a young age.
“With Carlos being out, that’s gonna give him more hunger to push for titles, but he’s gotta find the balance and deal with the pressure.
“Somebody’s got to answer the bell in Rome when conditions are back to normal. No more altitude balls, so it’s easier to control. So let’s see what happens, but it’s going to take a Herculean effort for anybody to stop him.
“Let’s see what happens in Rome. Can anybody get close to him? And from what I’ve seen, it doesn’t look like it at the moment, but that’s why we play it because you never know what can happen.”
READ MORE: ATP Italian Open draw: Novak Djokovic learns his fate as he returns for Jannik Sinner’s homecoming
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