Djokovic halted Sinner’s bid for a third successive Australian Open title in January. After dropping his Doha quarterfinal to Jakub Mensik, the Italian has since put together a 23-match win streak in surpassing 14,000 rankings points for the first time.
The ATP’s Top 5 remains unchanged, with Rome marking the final chance for players to make moves before Roland Garros seedings are set. With two-time reigning French Open title holder Carlos Alcaraz out for the clay swing with injury, the two current benefactors for crucial seed bumps are No. 3-ranked Zverev and No. 5-ranked Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Zverev did himself a massive favor by reaching the Mutua Madrid Open final in widening his lead over Djokovic to 1,105 rankings points. The three-time major finalist has 200 points to back up from his 2025 Rome quarterfinal result.
With an opening-round bye, Djokovic awaits Marton Fucsovics or a qualifier/lucky loser in his 2026 clay-court debut. He is projected to meet eighth seed Lorenzo Musetti in the last eight, as seeds Jiri Lehecka, Karen Khachanov, Arthur Rinderknech, Casper Ruud and Francisco Cerundolo also feature in this quarter of the draw.
