Jannik Sinner is officially back on top.

The Italian tennis star reclaimed the No. 1 ATP ranking with a 7-6 (5), 6-3 win over Carlos Alcaraz in the Monte-Carlo Masters final on Sunday. It is the fourth time the top ranking has exchanged hands between Sinner and Alcaraz over the past two years, with no other player coming close to breaking up the duopoly.

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Sinner has now won four straight ATP 1000 Masters tournaments, joining Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal. This one was likely a bit more special for Sinner, occurring on the clay surface upon which he’s struggled.

“Getting back to No. 1 means a lot to me,” Sinner said after the match, via Sky Sports. “At the same time, the ranking is secondary. I’m very happy to win at least one big trophy on this surface. I haven’t done it before, so it means a lot to me.”

Alcaraz took an early 2-0 lead in the first set. But Sinner broke his serve landing a shot just inside the line that Alcaraz could not handle. Sinner evened the set when Alcaraz attempted a drop shot that fell short. However, his drop shot worked in the next game, giving him a 3-2 lead.

The first set looked as if it would go to Alcaraz after he gained a 6-5 advantage by holding serve and overpowering Sinner with his forehand. But errors from Alcaraz at the net gave Sinner an opportunity to capitalize and he did so to win the tiebreaker.

In the second set, Sinner took control after breaking Alcaraz in the third game, who hit a deep forehand into the net after a long rally. In the fifth, Alcaraz again missed on a drop shot and Sinner broke serve.

With the win, Sinner improves his head-to-head record versus Alcaraz to seven wins in their 17 matches. He has won two consecutive matches over his rival — including a 7-6 (4), 7-5 victory in last year’s ATP Finals — and three of their past five meetings going back to Wimbledon.

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Sinner now sits at 13,350 points in the rankings, while Alcaraz is close behind him at 13,240. The next-closest is No. 3 Alexander Zverev with 5,595.

Sinner retaking No. 1 also means he will take the lead in career weeks there in his rivalry with Alcaraz. The pair entered this week with 66 career weeks each at No. 1, but Sinner is now set to take a healthy lead there.

Jannik Sinner becoming No. 1 again was inevitable after the Sunshine Double

When Jannik Sinner was suspended for three months last year over a positive doping test — which WADA accepted as being caused by a bizarre contamination involving a massage and over-the-counter spray — it didn’t stop him from competing in any Grand Slams. However, it did prevent him from playing four different ATP 1000 tournaments, and that has loomed over the rankings ever since.

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In 2025, Sinner got zero rankings points from the Indian Wells Open, the Miami Open, the Monte-Carlo Masters and the Madrid Open. This year, he has 3,000 from those tournaments, with Madrid still to play.

He’s also made history in the process, becoming the first man in history to win the Sunshine Double of Indian Wells and Miami without dropping a set.

Alcaraz, meanwhile, had 1,410 points to defend from those tournaments, though he also skipped Madrid last year. So as soon as Sinner got 2,000 points from the Sunshine Double, it was hard to see him not doing well enough to take No. 1.

Alcaraz was well aware of that, admitting, “I’m going to lose No. 1 of the world. I don’t know if it’s going to be in this tournament or the next one” earlier in the Monte Carlo tournament. The road doesn’t get much better for him for the rest of clay season, as he has another 3,330 points to defend at Barcelona, Rome and the French Open while Sinner has only 1,950.

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It will get interesting again once the rankings reach the points from Wimbledon, which Sinner won last year and therefore has to defend, but for now it’s advantage Sinner.