Jannik Sinner and his team contemplated not playing the Madrid Open, but in the end they decided that playing in the Spanish capital would be beneficial for the world No 1 ahead of the Italian Open and French Open.

The four-time Grand Slam winner has had a busy couple of months as he has won three consecutive ATP Masters 1000 titles, as he completed the Sunshine Double by winning the Indian Wells Open and Miami Open in March and he followed it up with the Monte Carlo Masters at the beginning of May.

The Italian then took a break as he didn’t sign up for either the Barcelona Open or the BMW Open and the team also considered skipping this week’s Madrid Open.

But Sinner has confirmed his entry and will start the tournament as the top seed and clear favourite with his big rival Carlos Alcaraz and tennis great Novak Djokovic absent.

In an interview with La Gazetta dello Sport, his coach Simone Vagnozzi says the break between Monte Carlo and Rome would have been too long had they opted to skip the Madrid event.

“We had a lot of time to train at Indian Wells, and we’re prepared. Even during the Monte Carlo tournament, Jannik kept getting better as the tournament went on,” he explained.

“If we hadn’t come to Madrid, there would have been too much of a gap between that tournament and Rome. He’s doing well, there’s no need to worry.”

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There is no doubt that the triple-header on clay is one of the toughest challenges in tennis, as the Italian Open will take place immediately after the Madrid Open as it starts on 6 May. There is a weeklong break before the French Open gets underway on 24 May.

Vagnozzi, though, is not concerned about Sinner’s fitness as they feel match practice is better than an extended training block.

“There’s no better training than a match. When a player wins and plays well, he wastes less energy,” he said. “You can train brilliantly for three months, but if you go into the first match without rhythm, you’ll burn more fuel than someone who’s full of confidence.

“We need to find a balance, be flexible, and adapt. We’ll see when the tournament here finishes and plan our training sessions accordingly. We made this choice because we believe it’s the best one for the whole clay-court season.”

Sinner returned to No 1 in the ATP Rankings on the back of beating Alcaraz in the Monte Carlo Masters final and he will now have an opportunity increase his lead over the Spaniard at the Madrid Open.

Although the Italian himself often plays down the significance of the No 1 ranking, Vagnozzi had this to say: “Of course, what matters is the end of the year, but returning to number one after three months without playing was huge.

“And then the celebration from the Italian fans, which were almost all there. All of this made it a very emotional moment for everyone.”