Jannik Sinner ties Novak Djokovic’s Masters 1000 record with 31st straight victory amid Italian Open run

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Just nine days ago, Italian phenom Jannik Sinner became the first player to win five consecutive ATP Masters 1000 titles. In bringing home the Madrid Open, the 24-year-old Sinner surpassed Serbian superstar Novak Djokovic and Spanish legend Rafael Nadal, who each had won four Masters titles in a row (Djokovic on three separate occasions and Nadal once).

Sinner, the world No. 1, is now on the brink of more tennis history.

With a 6-2, 6-3 victory over fellow Italian Andrea Pellegrino on Tuesday at the Italian Open, he tied Djokovic’s 2011 Masters consecutive victory record. In front of a crowd in the capital of his native country, Sinner stacked his 31st straight win in a Masters 1000 match while advancing to the quarterfinals of the Rome-based tournament. On Thursday, he’ll face Russian Andrey Rublev, who came into May as the 12th-highest rated player in the ATP rankings.

Winning Grand Slam events does the heavy lifting in writing a player’s legacy. But, aside from the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open., Masters 1000 events are the biggest in the sport.

And Sinner hasn’t lost a match in a Masters tournament since he had to retire with serious leg cramps in sweltering conditions last fall in Shanghai against Tallon Griekspoor. If Sinner takes the crown at the Italian Open, he will have won all nine Masters tournaments before turning 25. As of now, Djokovic is the only man to win each of them, although he reached that milestone at 31, according to The Athletic.

“If you want to be a great player you’ve got to play on all the surfaces and all the tournaments at your maximum,” Sinner said, per the Associated Press.

“It’s the mind that makes the difference.”

This summer, Sinner will try to conquer the surface that’s provided him the most difficulty at the Grand-Slam level: Roland-Garros’ clay. Last year, Sinner blew a two-set lead in the French Open, falling to Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz in a 5 1/2-hour match that featured three tiebreaks. Alcaraz, Sinner’s rival, has won the past two French Opens, except he’s already announced that, because of his wrist injury, he won’t be playing in Roland-Garros this time around. If Sinner wins the French Open, he’ll secure his elusive career Grand Slam.

Sinner’s been humming on clay of late. In fact, winning the Italian Open would make him the first man to complete a season sweep of the clay Masters 1000 events since Nadal in 2010.

Sinner would also become the first home champion in the event since Italy’s Adriano Panatta emerged victorious in 1976.