Jannik Sinner feared left-handed blows
Jannik Sinner gave his views after his easy success against Frenchman Ugo Humbert in Monte Carlo “It was a good performance, you have to change your style of play a bit, adjust to some characteristics,” stressed the current world number 2. The first matches are always difficult, with a left-hander then…. I had good feelings. You have to adapt on all surfaces: the hardest thing is the slip but the best training is the matches.”
The match was never in question: Sinner cleared Humbert in just 64 minutes with a clear 6-3 6-0, without conceding a single break ball. The Frenchman, who took the court with a conspicuous bandage on his right leg, tried to set up an aggressive strategy based on incisive serves and quick exchanges, but the low percentage of first serves (43%) and the Italian’s excellent response steered the match from the first bars. Two breaks in the fifth and ninth games were enough to close out the first set; in the second there was virtually no match.
With this victory, Sinner reaches 20 wins for the season, becoming the first player to do so in 2026, and stretching several impressive streaks: 22 consecutive victories against left-handed players, 18 straight wins in Masters 1000s, and an impressive 36 consecutive sets won in this category, further distancing Novak Djokovic, who is stuck at 24. Also noteworthy is the record of 26 victories against French players since 2021.
The South Tyrolean comes to this appointment on the back of an extraordinary moment of form: in the previous weeks he had conquered the so-called “Sunshine Double,” winning consecutively the Indian Wells and Miami Masters 1000s without surrendering a single set. A streak that had impressed even Carlos Alcaraz, who at the Monte Carlo media day had said, “I was surprised to see Sinner here after the victories in Indian Wells and Miami: it means that he is physically well and is ready to win anywhere.”
To accelerate his adaptation to clay, Sinner had chosen to also sign up for the doubles tournament paired with Belgian Zizou Bergs, with whom he had already scored a 6-4 7-5 victory over Casper Ruud and Tomas Machac. A strategic choice that proved useful in finding rhythm on the new surface, as confirmed by the good feelings expressed by Sinner himself in the post-match.
In the round of 16, Sinner will face the winner between Francisco Cerundolo and Tomas Machac. The stakes are also particularly high from a ranking perspective: having not participated in the tournament last year due to a disqualification related to the Clostebol case, the Italian does not have to defend any points and could move even closer to Alcaraz at the top of the ATP ranking. In his history in Monte Carlo, Sinner had always reached the final stages: in 2022 he was eliminated in the quarters by Zverev, while in 2023 and 2024 he fell in the semifinals against Rune and Tsitsipas, respectively.
