With Roland Garros beginning in less than a week, it’s Jannik Sinner’s title to lose.
The world No.1 has established himself as the heaviest of favourites for the only major title missing from his collection, after a flawless claycourt season.
He became the first man in 16 years to scoop the three claycourt Masters titles, with triumphs in Monte Carlo, Madrid and Rome seeing him build a 17-0 record on the surface in 2026.
The win in Rome saw him complete his set of all nine ATP Masters titles, making him the youngest player to do so, and just the second after Novak Djokovic.
Carrying a 29-match winning streak into Paris, winning 34 of his past 37 sets on clay, and with archrival Carlos Alcaraz on the sidelines, is there anyone who can stop him completing the career Grand Slam?
“I think he’s the heaviest favourite for a long time, because I even felt back in the Rafael Nadal-Roger Federer days, there was still a chance for Roger to play really well and win, but [at least] there was a contender,” Australian doubles legend Todd Woodbridge told ausopen.com.
“This would be the first time I can remember in so long that we've gone in with nobody able to contend, like on paper at least, against Jannik.”
Those Nadal days, to which Woodbridge refers, came when the Spanish star dominated Roland Garros, winning on debut in 2005 and not tasting defeat at the venue until 2009.
He resumed that dominance in 2010 – it was Nadal that year who last swept the three claycourt Masters titles, before Sinner – and triumphed in Paris again, commencing a run of five consecutive Roland Garros titles and boosting his haul of French trophies to nine.
He would eventually finish with a jaw-dropping 14, but there was always someone lurking as a potential contender.
In 2011 the primary challenger was Djokovic, who entered Roland Garros with a 37-0 record and had beaten Nadal in both the Madrid and Rome finals leading in. He seemed destined to triumph in Paris that year, only for Federer to upstage him in the semifinals – snapping Djokovic’s 43-match winning streak.
Sinner’s dominance in 2026 evokes shades of Djokovic’s brilliant 2011 run. Yet it should be noted the last time Sinner entered a major tournament as the favourite, when he was the two-time defending champion at AO 2026, Djokovic stunned him in a breathtaking five-set semifinal.
It begs the question: has Sinner's build-up to Roland Garros been almost too perfect?
“You would think at the moment his greatest opponent will be himself,” Woodbridge observed. “And how he handles that – the stress, the pressure, not having lost a match for ages – will be quite extraordinary to watch.
“I actually think a lead-up can be too good, and you can have played too much. It's always nice to have got a loss out of the way. But you can't pick and choose that. The whole thing is about maintaining the form, fitness and confidence.
“He would be looking at this going: ‘Alright, this is mine’. And I think you really then test psychology. He's going to turn [discussion of his dominance] around and go into the tournament thinking: ‘This is the one I've never won. How am I going to go winning it?’
“Then automatically, that will put that [pressure] aside.”
Sinner has been building to this point, improving his results with every claycourt tournament he plays and winning 39 of his past 43 matches on the surface.
From reaching the Roland Garros 2024 semifinals, he progressed to the finals of Rome and Roland Garros in 2025, before claiming his trio of claycourt titles in 2026.
Those defeats in 2024 and 2025 all came at the hands of Alcaraz, the two-time defending champion who will miss this year’s Roland Garros and Wimbledon due to a wrist injury.
From match point down, Alcaraz denied Sinner in last year’s epic finale in Paris. With Sinner avenging that defeat in the Monte Carlo final, and the Spaniard now out of contention, it leaves Stefanos Tsitsipas as the only other player in the past three seasons to overcome Sinner on clay.
“I think that will be the story of each match, is to see who can come out and challenge and really believe that they have a chance to beat him,” Woodbridge said.
“And then, the other story of the men's tournament is going to be who stands up and who can play the quality of tennis needed to win a major.
“The only one that really seems to have brought any consistency to that is probably Casper Ruud. He has that ability, has the history [as a two-time Roland Garros finalist]. And then in Rome to play well, make a final.
“If anything happens to Jannik, Ruud, at the moment, is the second favourite for me.”