Who’s Likely to Meet the 2026 Golden Career Masters Champion in the Roland Garros Finals?
Elephant in the room, Jannik Sinner is one of the best tennis players of all time, and the clear favorite to win Roland Garros. 2026 has seen him complete his own Career Golden Masters, the youngest to do it, conquer the Sunshine Double, win every Masters 1000 Tournament he’s played in, and he did all of this while dropping only four sets since February. Alexander Zverev, ranked third in the world, recently said that he believes nearly everything about Sinner’s game is better than his. 2026 has been an impressive season for the Italian; his mentality has improved alongside his playstyle. This meteoric rise from his loss at the Australian Open and subsequent dominance of the sport also has, in part, to do with Carlos Alcaraz.
Alcaraz won the Australian Open this year, becoming the youngest player to complete the Career Slam, winning all four Grand Slam Tournaments at least once. Sinner and Alcaraz have been each other’s only competition for a few years now. Out of Sinner’s six losses in 2025, four of them were to Alcaraz in major finals. Furthermore, Alcaraz has meaningfully more wins on Sinner than the other way around, leading 10 wins to seven. The 2026 Australian Open Winner’s exclusion from the past few tournaments is a huge part of Sinner’s amazing year. Due to a wrist injury, the Career Slam Champion has not participated in any major tournament since mid-April and even withdrew from Roland Garros. Without him on the court, Sinner’s job has been a bit easier. Going into Roland Garros, is there anyone there to stop the Career Golden Masters Champion from handily winning the tournament? There may only be two players in the running.
The first name many will point out, for good reason, is Novak Djokovic, the most decorated player in tennis history. The two players have been compared to each other many times, especially recently, as they are the only two players in history to complete the Career Golden Masters. Djokovic is also one of two players in 2026 to have beaten Sinner, and the two are almost even in their wins against each other. Djokovic also took a leave from the past few major tournaments due to stamina problems associated with his age. Djokovic wants to win one more Grand Slam Title, breaking his own record of being the oldest player to win a Slam. This would also break his own record of the most Grand Slam Titles won by a player. At his age, most fans count him out, but the Serbian has said that with enough energy, he can still defeat either Sinner or Alcaraz in a tournament; beating both is a different problem. With Alcaraz gone, Djokovic’s path to victory is much clearer.
Djokovic may be the obvious pick, but some of the biggest wins in tennis come from wildcards. This is where Daniil Medvedev comes into the picture. Ranked seventh in the world, the Russian has carved a niche with his inconsistent style of play. He’s one of only a few players currently on tour who have won a Grand Slam, a mark that even third-ranked Zverev hasn’t yet achieved, and he has gone toe-to-toe with Sinner and Alcaraz on multiple occasions. However, he has also faced odds-defying losses to players ranked out of the top 100. When the odds are in his favor, Medvedev can be a powerhouse.
