Why Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner should both be happy with Italian Open result: Andy Roddick & Jim Courier deliver surprise verdict

Carlos Alcaraz played the best tennis of his European claycourt swing in the 2025 Italian Open final on Sunday (May 18), downing top-seeded Jannik Sinner in straight sets to win his first title at Foro Italico. Former World No. 1s Andy Roddick and Jim Courier subsequently unpacked the two rivals' 11th career meeting on the ATP Tour, insisting that both of them had enjoyed ideal campaigns in Rome this fortnight.

Alcaraz and Sinner both benefited from similarly straightforward paths to the title match at the Italian Open, respectively. While the Spaniard dropped one set en route to the final, the World No. 1 was unassailable in his first tournament following a three-month doping suspension, not dropping a single set before facing the third seed.

Carlos Alcaraz saved two set points at 5-6, 15-40 down in the opening set of their clash before winning it in a close tiebreaker. Unfortunately for the local fans at the Stadio Centrale, it was one-way traffic from that point onwards as home hope Jannik Sinner put in a deflated performance in the second set.

The reigning Monte-Carlo Masters champion eventually completed a 7-6(5), 6-1 victory to lift his first title in Rome. His performance drew rave reviews from both Jim Courier and Andy Roddick, who analyzed the match and the fallout from it on Tennis Channel.

"An important match for both of them. Both of them leave Rome really great about their chances at Roland Garros. Alcaraz continues his run at 4-0 against Sinner, which no one else is able to come close to," Jim Courier said for Tennis Channel (via X). "Winning Monte Carlo, finals of Barcelona, where he got injured, and now winning here. This has been perfect for Carlos but also for Jannik re-entering, couldn't do much better than this."

"Yeah, listen at the beginning of the week if you had said, 'Carlos, hey you're gonna win this tournament, take out Sinner,' that's a 12/10, right?" Andy Roddick added.

Andy Roddick also spared a word for Sinner while reiterating Courier's point that both players would leave the 1000-level event happy with their showings.

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Andy Roddick: "This is what needed to happen for Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, it was the perfect preparation"

Carlos Alcaraz speaks to Italian crowd during Italian Open trophy ceremony | Image Source: Getty

The 2003 US Open champion alluded to the World No. 1's 6-0, 6-1 beatdown of sixth-seeded Casper Ruud at the Italian Open earlier this week while talking to Jim Courier on the Tennis Channel show. He also heaped rich praise on Carlos Alcaraz's all-round display against Jannik Sinner.

"If you told Sinner, 'You're actually gonna play great tennis, you're gonna beat Casper Ruud 0 and 1, and then lose to Carlos,' he would've taken that, 10/10 times," Andy Roddick said. "So this is what needed to happen for both of them. It was the perfect preparation. And Carlos, just flashing all the variety, the threat of the options that he has seemingly keep Sinner off-beat."

With his win over the Italian at Foro Italico, Carlos Alcaraz broke Sinner's streak of 26 consecutive victories and 11 back-to-back sets won against top-10 opposition. With his triumph, he has also now won all three of the claycourt ATP Masters 1000 tournaments, joining Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Gustavo Kuerten, and Marcelo Rios as the only players to achieve the feat.