Who won the Madrid Masters 2026?
- May 5
- 7 min read
As we edge closer and closer to the second grand slam of the season, each tournament is big, both literally as the draws are bigger and more ranking points are available, but also mentally; no one wants their form to drop before a slam. With talk of injuries and illness dominating headlines, Madrid had some stories to tell this year. A stomach bug, virus or food poisoning (rumours have been flying, and no confirmation has been made either way) was rife throughout both the WTA and ATP camps, so it was intriguing to see how this would affect the tournament. We had some shocks, but we also had business as usual for some players, can you guess who? Let's find out who won the Madrid Masters.
Who won the Madrid Masters? The Winners and Their Weeks
Let’s start with the obvious, shall we? Jannik Sinner, the world number one, won his first Madrid title. But more importantly, he made history. Sinner became the first player to win the first four Masters 1000 events of the year, and only the ninth player to reach the final of all nine Masters events. Losing just one set all week (his first set of the tournament) he was utterly dominant and a shoo-in for the title from day one. Sinner waltzed past Zverev 6-1 6-2, emphasising just how wide the gap is between number one and number three in the world. The Italian now heads into his home Masters 1000 event, where he made his first appearance since his drugs ban last year, and he will be fully confident that he can not only win the title in Rome but go on to dominate in Paris too. Is anyone going to be betting against him with Carlos Alcaraz out injured? I doubt it. More on Carlos later…
In the WTA event, we were certainly given more shocks and surprises. The biggest surprise was the player who went on to win the title in Madrid; Marta Kostyuk. Coming off of her win in Rouen a couple of weeks ago (I barely mentioned this in my previous entry, maybe I should have taken more notice…) the 23 year old is in fine form reaching a career high ranking of 15 off the back of her win in the Spanish capital. With all the big players falling earlier than expected in the tournament, it paved the way for someone to take full advantage - and the Ukrainian Kostyuk did just that. She took the opportunity she was given and claimed the title beating Mirra Andreeva 6-3 7-5 - following up her impressive straight sets win with an equally impressive backflip celebration. Sabalenka, Rybakina, Gauff and Swiatek were all out of the tournament in the quarter finals or earlier, with the latter two seemingly affected by the stomach bug doing the rounds. Kostyuk’s run of good form could put her name in the mix for Roland Garros. Kostyuk has withdraw from Rome with a hip injury. Probably just precationary (hopefully it wasn't caused by the backflip).
Pliskova - Did Anyone Else Forget About Her?
A name that seemed to pop up out of nowhere this week was Karolina Pliskova, former world number one and two-time grand slam finalist. I was genuinely shocked to see that she has been playing all year…even reaching the third round in Melbourne. Where have I been? It is nice to see her back at the latter stages of big tournaments and, although we don’t know how much longer she will be on the tour, I would absolutely LOVE one final epic run for her at a slam. If she can continue picking up some results and slowly get her ranking up high enough to gain direct entry into some of the smaller events you never know what could happen…
Pliskova continues her 2026 in Rome, where she will face Jessica Bouzas Maneiro in the first round.
Stand-out Stars: Talk About Taking the Opportunity
This week was not just an opportunity for WTA players. ATP players were able to take advantage of a slightly depleted draw too; no Alcaraz, no Fritz, no Djokovic. Alexander Blockx was probably the player who grabbed the opportunity the tightest. Going into the tournament at 69 in the world, the 21 year old Belgian grafted his way all the way to the semi-finals taking out four seeded players on the way before falling to Zverev in the semis 6-2 7-5. Included in these players were world number five Felix Auger-Aliassime and last year’s champion Caspar Ruud. He has boosted himself to 36 in the world, and is on the cusp of a seeding at Roland Garros - a good week in Rome could get him just that. He faces Federico Cina in round one.
Carrying on from his good form in Barcelona, rising Spanish star Rafael Jodar continues his remarkable rise up the rankings. After his quarter-final run in Madrid, he is now 34 in the world and, like Blockx, he has a chance of a seeding for the French Open. If he does not exceed the cut off for a seeding I don’t think that matters too much, because it would be fun to have him in the draw where he could cause upsets. A steady rise isn’t always a bad thing. The other teenage sensation on the tour, Joao Fonseca, came face-to-face with Jodar in Madrid in their third round match. And boy was it an epic. It was everything we hoped for in the first meeting between these two. Jodar got the better of Fonseca who dropped off in the third set, but I am sure this is the first meeting of many between these two young stars.
Player to watch watch
So, at the start of the year I chose two players, one male and one female, who I thought would push up the rankings this year. These players were Alex Michelsen and Alexandra Eala. Let’s catch up on how they’re getting on, shall we?
Read my Michelsen and Eala pre-season thoughts here.
In short: they’re not doing great. At the start of the season, I said I see no reason why Michelsen can’t get his first title this year and get back to his career high ranking of 30, and then push the top 20. So he started the year 38 and is now, as of Monday, 42. Now, this isn't necessarily the progress I had hoped for - but we wait for the grass! Alex, pull those socks up and make my prediction of you being seeded at the US Open a reality, please.
Now here is a scary coincidence; Alex Eala is also currently ranked at 42 in the world. Spooky, huh? Eala is trending in the right direction as she started the year ranked 53 in the world, so that’s a start. I did think she would have a more positive start to the year on the hard courts but she has only reached one semi-final and that was at the very start of the year in Auckland. Clay is not her favourite surface (another similarity to Michelsen - gosh there are just too many to count), so she has virtually no points to defend from last year’s editions of Rome and Roland Garros. An opportunity to climb a few spots in the rankings? I think so.
Alcaraz news
Now, onto the biggest news from the tennis world over the last couple of weeks. Carlos Alcaraz has pulled out of Rome and the French Open following on from his withdrawal from Madrid. Alcaraz, who turns 23 today (everyone say 'happy birthday Carlos'), is suffering from a wrist injury. Bad news for any tennis player. We received the news about 10 days ago, and there has been no further update since. His statement said missing the remainder of the clay season was “the most prudent thing to do”.
Read Alcaraz’s entire statement here.
This is gutting news for all tennis fans, especially at this time of year. It would be a huge shame if Alcaraz was not healed in time to take to the grass, although he says his plan and hope is to take to the court at Queens in mid-June. Hopefully we can find out some more about what the injury actually is, but the most important thing is Carlos does not return until he is 100% ready and fully FULLY FIT. A wrist injury can be career ending if not handled properly; I mean just look at how Dominic Thiem’s career ended…
Looking at some numbers, just for the fun of it, Alcaraz will lose 3000 points with his Rome and Roland Garros titles not being defended. He will still stay second in the rankings, even if Zverev picks up both titles (unlikely though).
Wishing Carlos a full, but speedy, recovery. We want you back for Wimbledon!
Looking Ahead to Rome
Rome begins today, with a few WTA main draw matches sprinkled in amongst the conclusion of qualifying. Emma Raducanu is due to get back on court this week, and she has a bye through the first round with Solana Sierra of a qualifier waiting for her in round two. Jack Draper and Taylor Fritz remain out of action with injuries - and potentially a broken heart alongside that for Fritz who has broken up with long term girlfriend Morgan Riddle. I for one will desperately miss her sitting court side for his matches. She really is a tennis icon; she will be missed.
Back to the actual tennis, Novak Djokovic returns to Rome for the first time since 2024; the place where he has won 6 titles. Novak is due to begin his campaign in the second round against Marton Fucsovics or a qualifier. Having been out of action since Indian Wells, it is our first glimpse of Djokovic on the clay this year. Let’s see what he can do.
So onto Rome we go - ci vediamo lì! (‘See you there’ in Italian. Thank you Google Translate)
Until next time, keep serving!
E x
Very insightful as always 💙