Jannik Sinner will head into the 2026 Australian Open hoping to win a third successive title.
The Italian, a four-time major winner, will look to build on his stellar 2025 season – a year in which he won the Australian Open, Wimbledon and ATP Finals.
Sinner, who has spent 66 weeks as the world number one, will hope to prevent Carlos Alcaraz from achieving the ‘Career Grand Slam’ in Australia, before travelling to Europe for the clay-court swing.
One of Sinner’s biggest goals in 2026 will be winning the French Open title for the first time. The 23-year-old had three consecutive Championship points in the 2025 final but ended up losing to Alcaraz in five sets.
No Italian has won the French Open Men’s Singles title since 1976. Could Sinner end this barren run in 2026?
Paolo Bertolucci says he hopes Jannik Sinner wins the 2026 French Open
Paolo Bertolucci, an Italian tennis legend who won 18 Tour titles during his career, has expressed his wish to see Jannik Sinner lift the title in Roland Garros next year.
As per Corriere dello Sport, Bertolucci joked with his former doubles partner Adriano Panatta, admitting: “I hope Sinner wins Paris.
Has anyone in tennis history ever hit the ball as hard as Jannik Sinner does?
“They’ve been dragging us around for 50 years with this Panatta being the last finalist! Well, it looks like who knows what the hell you’ve done, with that s—– physique!”
Panatta is the only Italian man to win the French Open title in the Open Era. Panatta won the title in 1976, defeating America’s Harold Solomon 6–1, 6–4, 4–6, 7–6 in the final.
The Italian is also the only player to defeat Bjorn Borg at the French Open, doing so in 1973 and 1976.
Panatta and Bertolucci [pictured below] were part of the Italian team that won the 1976 Davis Cup. Panatta secured the title by defeating Great Britain’s Roger Taylor 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-4 in the fourth rubber of the final.
It was Italy’s first Davis Cup title. The nation became the seventh country to win the tournament.
The first French Open Men’s Singles champion from Italy
Nicola Pietrangeli won Italy’s first French Open Men’s Singles title in 1959 after defeating South Africa’s Ian Vermaak in the final.
A year later he repeated the feat, beating Chile’s Luis Ayala 3–6, 6–3, 6–4, 4–6, 6–3 in the 1960 final.
In 1961, Pietrangeli came within one match of winning three consecutive titles. However, he was prevented from doing so by Spain’s Manuel Santana. The Spaniard defeated Pietrangeli in the final, 4–6, 6–1, 3–6, 6–0, 6–2.
Pietrangeli sadly passed away on December 1, 2025, at the age of 92.
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