Jannik Sinner may very well be in the form of his life. He has clinched three Masters titles in little over a month and has dethroned Carlos Alcaraz as the World No. 1 for the third time. Looking at his current form, Sinner will be the favorite to clinch the titles at the upcoming Madrid and Rome Masters.

Though the 24-year-old is a strong player on clay lately, he is still considered inferior to Alcaraz when it comes to the surface, as the latter has two French Open titles under his belt. However, Italian great Corrado Barazzutti has quite a different opinion. He feels that Sinner is better than Alcaraz on clay, even though the Italian is yet to clinch a French Open title.

Explaining his point of view, Barazzutti pointed out how Sinner had a solid clay-court season last year despite missing the first few tournaments due to his three-month suspension. “For me, the difference with Alcaraz on clay hasn’t existed for a while now: a year ago, Jannik reached the final in Rome right after returning from three months out and lost the one at Roland Garros by a hair, failing to convert three match points. I’ll tell you more: in my view, right now Sinner is stronger than Alcaraz even on clay,” he told Gazzetta.

Barazzutti also believes that Sinner has all the momentum at the moment, while Alcaraz has lost his confidence in recent competitions. “At this moment, there’s one player riding high on confidence, and that’s Sinner, and another who’s lost that confidence and seems a bit confused, and I’m referring to Alcaraz. In the final, Jannik played the important points better because he was mentally sharper and more aware of the tactical plan to execute: if the Spaniard doesn’t quickly turn things around, going back to making the right choices, he’ll be forced to chase in the upcoming tournaments too.” Barazzutti alla Gazzetta: “Secondo me, nei confronti di #Sinner non valgono le distinzioni: è forte in egual misura su tutte le superfici.

Semmai, più che una questione tecnica, può darsi che un po’ contino, soprattutto dal punto di vista mentale, le sensazioni e le inclinazioni… pic.twitter.com/kzGC5f7Diw — Guido Olivares (@Guidolino8) April 13, 2026 These comments came after Jannik Sinner recorded a convincing 7-6, 6-3 victory over Alcaraz in the final of the Monte Carlo Masters. Though both players gave it their all on the court, the Italian’s composure helped him win points during important stages of the match. On the other hand, his opponent faltered in crunch situations and lost points when it mattered the most.

The first set went down to the wire as both players looked strong on their serves and didn’t give away too many silly points. But Alcaraz failed to keep the momentum going in the tiebreaker and handed Sinner the opening set by committing a double-fault while being a set point down. Though the Spaniard did start the second set well and raced to a 3-1 lead, Sinner fought back hard.

He broke Alcaraz’s serve twice and bagged the second set comfortably to win his 27th ATP tour-level singles title. Closing their H2H a little now at 10-7! This comes as a surprise as clay was not always the Italian’s best surface.

As his coach, Simone Vagnozzi claimed during the post-match press conference, “He’s reaching a very high level on clay. When I arrived, I thought he played better on clay than on hard courts. We haven’t decided yet whether to go to Madrid or not; we’ll let a few days pass and then decide.” Not to mention, Carlos Alcaraz now fuels Jannik Sinner’s resolve after handing him two final losses in Rome and Roland Garros last year.

Additionally, the Italian missed most of that clay season due to his ongoing ban by CAS due to his doping case, which ran from February 9, 2025, to May 4, 2025. But he now returns to the surface with much to prove and aims to strike back harder once again as Would No.1. Alcaraz decided to make a big decision after the defeat and made his stance clear for the upcoming tournaments of the clay-court season.

Alcaraz confirms his plans for the clay-court season ahead of Jannik Sinner The 22-year-old has affirmed that he will be participating in all major tournaments of the clay swing. This includes Barcelona, Madrid, Rome, and Roland Garros. He will be defending around 3300 points in these four tournaments, so withdrawing from any of them can lead to a big dip for him on the rankings.

“The main goal is to play the full clay season calendar. So let’s see how it’s going to be. It was the goal last year as well and, unfortunately, I couldn’t because of an injury.

We’re touching good and praying that nothing is going to happen to my body. I’m going to heal my body much better than last year for sure. If I’m going to skip one, I will skip one tournament.

If my body stays healthy, I’m going to do whatever it takes to be healthy and take care of my body. And if I don’t have any problems, I will play everything on clay,” he said. It is safe to say that the Spaniard loves playing on the red dirt. He h