Jannik Sinner has clinched his second Wimbledon title after ousting a resilient Alexander Zverev in a lengthy encounter on Centre Court.
The world No.1 had to come back from a set down to win 6-7(7), 7-6(2), 6-3, 6-4 and claim his fifth major trophy at the age of 24. Sinner’s latest triumph was far from easy, with the Italian having to wait until almost three hours into the match to break Zverev, whom he has now won 10 consecutive Tour-level matches against. He has now won 100 matches at Grand Slams, which is something only seven other active players have been able to do.
“To Alex – he got his first Grand Slam in Paris this year and he was so close today,” Sinner said during the trophy ceremony.
“If he keeps playing like this, I am sure he will have this Wimbledon trophy soon.
“We both started very well, serving very fast. My team and I prepared very well.”
Zverev illustrated how much of a threat he was to Sinner with his first serve of the final, which registered at 137 mph, faster than the top seed had produced in the entire tournament. The opening set turned out to be one of the most closely contested in the pair’s 15-match rivalry on the ATP Tour. Sinner’s golden opportunity occurred at 4-3 when he had a break point against the German but produced a forehand shank as Zverev drew level. Heading into a tense tiebreaker, both players continued hitting powerful shots, with each of them seeing a set point opportunity come and go. Eventually, a moment of brilliance from Zverev rewarded him with a 7-6 lead after he hit a blistering forehand winner down the line.
The servebot showdown continued into the second frame, with 12 games passing by without a single break point and each player winning more than 75% of their service points. Following this, a turning point in the match unfolded after Zverev leaked a series of costly errors, triggered by the pressure piled on him by Sinner, to fall behind 1-4 in the second tiebreaker. A few points later, it was another error, this time from Zverev’s backhand side, that secured the second set for Sinner and revived his chances.
Whilst one of the sport’s biggest titles was at stake, there was still great respect between the two. This was shown during the third set when Zverev slipped by the baseline and was seen holding his right knee. Prompting Sinner to come over to see if he was ok, which he was.
It was a staggering two hours and 54 minutes into the match, the first break occurred with an error-stricken Zverev being the one to get broken. Prompting him to throw his racket onto the ground out of sheer frustration. Meanwhile, Sinner seized his opportunity to take a two-set lead.
On the verge of winning back-to-back Wimbledon titles, Sinner continued to wear down his rival. The definitive blow he inflicted with a forehand winner that saw him break for a 4-3 lead in the fourth set as Zverev started to make errors on a frequent basis. Sinner then went on to prevail on his first championship point.
“There is no better place to play tennis. Standing here you can feel the nerves on Sunday morning when you wake up that this is a very very special day,” Sinner reflected.
“You never know how many times you can come back on Sunday. I never take things for granted, playing in front of very special people. Throughout the whole couple of weeks it’s been amazing.”
Germany’s 35-year wait for a male Wimbledon champion continues. Zverev battled valiantly throughout the final, but as the match progressed, he continued to come undone on the clutch moments. Sinner was only the third top-10 player he had played in the last two Grand Slam tournaments, and he is yet to beat a world No. 1 player at a major.
“He showed once again why he is the best player in the world. It was great to share the Centre Court with you on finals weekend. A great honour to be here. It didn’t go my way but congratulations to you first of all,” Zverev said to Sinner on court.
“To my team, we had a pretty good two months, I would say, even though we lost this final.
“We had an amazing two months and we came into Wimbledon having never reached the quarter-final, and we reached a first final.
“At 29, this is the first time I believed I could win this trophy, so thank you to you guys as well.
Sinner is the fourth player in ATP rankings history to win Wimbledon twice in a row whilst being ranked No.1 on bothg occasions.
