"I'd say the current Sinner is the best we've seen so far” – Jannik Sinner highly acclaimed by Boris Becker after astonishing Masters 1000 win streak

Jannik Sinner is charging away in the ATP Tour. He is looking to win a fifth consecutive Masters 1000 title at the Madrid Open while his floundering rival, Carlos Alcaraz, sits out with a wrist injury. Boris Becker looked backed on 2026 and their flourishing rivalry, studying where the power changed hands and who could catch up or even compete with them in the future.

Sinner is a man on a mission. He has surpassed Alcaraz at the top of the ATP Rankings thanks to a fine trio of tournaments. Sinner won Indian Wells for the first time before repeating the feat in the Miami Open. He became the first ever player to win the Sunshine double without dropping a set. He seamlessly transitioned to clay with no qualms, winning the Monte-Carlo Masters against a hapless Alcaraz. Madrid is his next target, looking to tick off another Masters 1000 title off his list.

After his incredible period of form, Becker was full of praise for the Italian. "I'd say the current Sinner is the best we've seen so far,” he told La Gazzetta dello Sport. “Winning the 'Sunshine Double' is something extraordinary; for me, in terms of difficulty, it's on par with winning a Grand Slam: West Coast, East Coast, time change, four weeks of commitment. And then going to Monte Carlo and winning the tournament while losing just one set... he's done something incredible, a feat whose sporting, physical, and mental value seems inestimable to me.”

Not only his tennis the German was complimentary about, but also his persona. “Jannik is a humble guy; he's not one to go around talking about how good and strong he is, but if you sit down and analyse his performance over the past few weeks, it's incredible."

It comes after a tricky period for Sinner. He relinquished his Australian Open crown after losing a thrilling semi-final to Novak Djokovic in five sets. He then was a surprising exit in the quarterfinal stage of the Qatar Open, going down to Jakub Mensik.

The six-time Grand Slam champion believed that these defeats fuelled his motivations when traversing to California. "I think Jannik was really upset about losing to Djokovic in the fifth set in Melbourne; he wasn't expecting it. The loss to Mensik in Doha was definitely easier to digest. He went to Indian Wells, where he'd never won, with a fist in his pocket, desperate to prove that what happened in Melbourne was an exception."

As Sinner has risen, Alcaraz has halted slightly. The seven-time Grand Slam champion rounded off his collection at the Australian Open before winning in Qatar. Since then, a semi-final exit at Indian Wells ended his unbeaten streak in 2026. Sebastian Korda dumped him out of the third round in the Miami Open before a first defeat to Sinner in Monaco really rubbed salt in the wound, losing the number one spot in the rankings.

“There's a funny thing about these two: when one climbs, the other stops,” Becker analysed. “Or almost. It's interesting. It's hard to see them both at the top. I'm sure they look at each other; if one gets into a good rhythm, the other slows down, as if they were connected.”

Now out of form slightly, he needs someone beside him who will get him out of this. Juan Carlos Ferrero is no longer there with him having departed in the off-season. “Well, after the trade, he won in Melbourne,” Becker said. “That said, I consider Juan Carlos Ferrero one of the best coaches in tennis today. A good coach is one who shows up when his player is in a slump.”

Alcaraz needs everyone in his team to support him according to the former world number one. “Now Carlos is going through a bit of a slump, so he needs his coaching staff to find a way to pull him out of his slump. This time last year, he had another small slump: injured in Barcelona, ​​missed Madrid, people were asking questions... He recovered, but he did it with Ferrero in his corner.

“I'm sure Samu Lopez is an excellent coach, and the same goes for his father and brother. But now they have to prove it. If Carlos recovers from his injury, he goes to Rome and wins, and then goes to Paris and does well, fine. But now they have to prove that they're the right team for him.”

In the last 20 tournaments that Alcaraz and Sinner have both competed in, they have always won. Sinner has claimed 11 while Alcaraz has come out on top in nine. Subsequently, the last time this trend was not in place was at the 2024 Madrid Open. They both lost in the quarterfinals with Andrey Rublev taking home the crown. That was two years ago.

“Incredible,” Becker exclaimed. “This statistic can be read in two different ways: you can say that Sinner and Alcaraz are better than the others, or you can say that the rest are not up to par. I don't know.”

There has been little competition that has challenged the pair at the top of tennis. It is the complete opposite of other eras. “Even in the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era, you had Wawrinka, Del Potro, Murray, other players capable of winning multiple Grand Slams,” he commented. “Now there's no one who even comes close. And the only one who seems capable of competing with them is still Djokovic, who's 38. He's the only one who comes close. And I don't know why that's the case; the question should be asked of the other tennis players.”

The other one, aside from Djokovic, who comes to mind is Alexander Zverev. The world number three has reached the semi-final stage in the Australian Open and the first three Masters 1000 tournaments. He failed to make it past the top two in either of them.

Becker lambasted his fellow countryman for not taking these golden opportunities “Sascha had a great chance in Melbourne: he should have beaten Alcaraz in the semifinals. Against these two, you don't have a lot of chances, and when you do have one, you have to seize it, otherwise they'll get back up and bite you. Zverev would have been the favourite against Djokovic in the final; he squandered a great chance. If he'd taken it, we wouldn't be here talking about this statistic. So a possible alternative question is: are the others good enough to take advantage of the opportunities they'll get? Zverev had them and didn't take them.”

A few other names popped up in his head, including the recent champions in Barcelona and Munich. “Arthur Fils's style of play, and his 21 years, lead me to include him among the possible opponents of Sinner and Alcaraz. I'd like to put [Ben] Shelton, who just won in Monaco, on hard courts and on grass; we'll see about other surfaces. [Joao] Fonseca isn't there yet, maybe next year. The same goes for [Rafael] Jodar, although he has potential. I'm thinking out loud: Learner Tien, on hard courts and grass, maybe not on clay. Let's say that from No. 5 on down, everyone can aspire to be there.”