Jannik Sinner, Marion Bartoli stunned: "Now the'goal is no longer to beat him…"

Jannik Sinner dominated the Madrid final by overwhelming Alexander Zverev with a peremptory 6-1, 6-2, almost playing with the German tennis player, who was never able to challenge him. The Azzurro became the first tennis player in history to win five consecutive Masters 1000s, and if he also prevails in Rome he will have won all nine tournaments in this category at just 24 years old. Something unheard of.

Former tennis champion and now commentator Marion Bartoli at Sky Sports had this to say about the dominance of the player from Alto Adige: “Without Alcaraz, for me the only one who can compete with him is Novak Djokovic. When he’s fit and healthy, he’s the only one who can put him a little bit of a challenge, but for the others the gap is becoming so huge that by now I think for the rest of the participants it must be a little discouraging.”

“Now we’re even seeing that the goal for the others is no longer even to beat him, but at least to be competitive with him, to give him a little bit of a battle.”

“I’m sorry about this final, it was not my best day,” Zverev said after the final. Congratulations to Jannik: he is by far the best in the world right now. For almost all of us there is no chance. You are doing a great job, maybe at Roland Garros you will take a break,” he said jokingly, ideally addressing Sinner and the absent Alcaraz. In turn, the Azure responded generously, “You had another great week, even though today was not your best day. I wish you all the best for Rome and Paris.”

Making the record of five consecutive Masters 1000s even more extraordinary is the context in which it accrued: before Madrid, Sinner had already lifted the trophies of Paris, Indian Wells, Miami and Monte Carlo, a streak that not even legends such as Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal had managed.