Jannik Sinner and Alexander Zverev will add another chapter to their extensive rivalry on Sunday — and you may have to get used to it with Carlos Alcaraz sidelined by an injury.
Sinner and Zverev will be squaring off for the 14th time in their careers when they battle for the Mutua Madrid Open title. The head-to-head series stands at 9-4 in favor of Sinner, but he has been far more dominant of late than even that record would suggest. In fact, the Italian has won eight in a row since falling behind 4-1 after losing a five-set thriller at the 2023 U.S. Open. Sinner has taken a whopping 12 consecutive sets from Zverev dating back to Vienna last fall, with only one of those 12 going to a tiebreaker.
Zverev will at least take some confidence from playing in Madrid, which is without question one of his favorite spots on tour. The third-ranked German is 30-6 lifetime at the Caja Magica with two titles (2018, 2021) and one runner-up finish (2022). He is back in another final after defeating Mariano Navone, Terence Atmane, Jakub Mensik, Flavio Cobolli, and Alexander Blockx.
Sinner has been the heavy title favorite ever since Alcaraz was forced to withdraw from Madrid with his wrist issue. The world No. 1 has played every bit like it, too. Sinner dropped his opening set of the tournament to Benjamin Bonzi, but he recovered to win that match 6-7(6), 6-1, 6-4 and then mostly cruised past Elmer Moller, Cameron Norrie, Rafael Jodar, and Arthur Fils.
If there was a place where Zverev was going to beat Sinner, it would probably be Madrid. Unfortunately for the 29-year-old, there probably is no such place — at least not in the foreseeable future.
Pick: Sinner in 2