Sinner Deactivates Alcaraz Weapons To Win Wimbledon

Jannik Sinner is not a man who thinks in terms of revenge, but his four-set win over Carlos Alcaraz in the Wimbledon men’s singles final on Sunday must have tasted sweeter than strawberries and cream. The number one seed made up for the agony of missing out on the French Open just five weeks ago by beating Alcaraz 4-6 6-4 6-4 6-4 to claim his first ever SW19 crown.

Alcaraz was going for his sixth win from six major finals, a record that he had hoped to compare and contrast with Iga Swiatek’s perfect slam half-dozen at Sunday’s Champions’ Ball. However, Sinner stood up to some Spanish magic at the end of the first set and took charge of the contest, suffocating the defending champion’s normal range of artistry with the kind of precision hitting that knocked a physically compromised Novak Djokovic backwards in the semifinals.

Sinner should have had the Roland Garros trophy coming into Wimbledon, having lost three match points at Roland Garros to his greatest rival. This time there was to be no great escape from the Murcia magician. The world No. 1 managed to contain Alcaraz’s fully mobile unit of greatest hits and became quite the showman himself, even playing a half-volley pick-up between the legs at one point. He was pumped on Lavazzas. Or something.

Alcaraz knew that the Italian camp would be going all in for the win after the pain of Paris, and it was Sinner who crucially held the green card that gave the access code to attack Alcaraz’s overall track record of 36-3 on the grass. Sinner is now responsible for two of those four defeats, both at Wimbledon. He made full use of that lucky escape in the last 16 when Grigor Dimitrov pulled out with a pectoral issue after being two sets up.

The opening was a curate’s egg of a set. Both men had a first serve percentage that was hovering just above 50, although it was Sinner who grabbed the first break when he pushed the favorite back with some huge groundstrokes from 40-15 down to go 4-2 up.

The Spaniard has something of the Rory McIlroy about him in that he can suddenly fire from nowhere after a bogey game. Alcaraz broke the Italian twice, winning the set with an incredible backhand flick from what looked like an irretrievable position and cupping his ear. He was on the march. Or so it seemed.

There were four breaks in the first 11 games of the match, including Alcaraz’s opening service in the second set. The 22-year-old had too many dips, not helped by a first serve percentage of 53. Sinner pulled off two incredible forehands to clinch the second. His movement to the ball was electric as Alcaraz’s drop shot touch deserted him. There was none of the playful racket twirling as he had the life force sucked out by the opponent’s power cord.

“The second set I felt (was) really, really important. I feel like I just gave a lot of free points when he was serving the second serve. OK, he has a big first serve. That’s obvious. But when you have the chance to return a second serve, I had to do more with those points,” Alcaraz said in the press conference.

The two-time winner served two doubles at the start of the third and just seemed flatter than normal. He shouted “Vamos” at 2-1 in the third while Sinner was far more animated than usual, determined to break Alcaraz’s SW19 fortress and the five losses on the bounce to the number two seed.

Sinner went full Ivan Drago to puncture holes in Alcaraz’s game. Juan Carlos Ferrero cut a worried figure throughout, sensing that his charge was struggling for answers and unable to break loose.

When Sinner got an early break in the fourth with another monster backhand, there was an inevitability about the outcome. He still had to face down two break points at 4-3, but hit a second service of 110mph. The courage to take everything on with that level of certainty spoke volumes. There was no way back for Alcaraz who only rediscovered his smile after graciously accepting he was beaten by the better man.

Sinner’s personality came out even more in a post-match speech that was rich in humor and insight. “It doesn’t matter how you win or you lose, at important tournaments you just have to understand what you did wrong and work on that. We tried to accept the loss and keep working. For sure, that is one of the reasons why I am holding this trophy. Having this means a lot.”

The next instalment in the movie series could be at Flushing Meadows in September. The respect between the two of them is huge off the court, but when they cross the white lines there is no holding back.