By Martyn Herman
LONDON (Reuters) -When Jannik Sinner arrived at three match points in the fourth set of his Wimbledon final against Carlos Alcaraz on Sunday, the memory of what happened five weeks ago in Paris was flashing through the minds of everyone inside Centre Court.
Everyone, perhaps, except world number one Sinner, who managed to banish any lurking demons from the darkest recesses of his brain to seal a 4-6 6-4 6-4 6-4 victory and become the first Italian Wimbledon singles champion.
Just as on the Parisian clay, 23-year-old Sinner was the better player for long periods. Just as at Roland Garros he had the title in his hands.
But unlike that day when three consecutive match points vanished in the fourth set and Alcaraz roared back to win the longest French Open final ever, this time the ice-cool Sinner was never going to be denied.
Alcaraz, who was bidding to become only the fifth man in the professional era to win three successive Wimbledon titles under the watchful eye of Spain’s King Felipe in the Royal Box, saved one match point.
But this time there was no escape for Alcaraz as Sinner fired down an unreturnable serve.
There were no ecstatic celebrations either. Sinner raised his arms to the sky, before consoling the man he de-throned and headed off in time-honoured fashion to embrace those in his box.
“Back in the days when I was young, this was only a dream, because it was so far away from where I’m from,” the man from the Dolomites who could have become a top skier, said on court.
“Emotionally I had a very tough loss in Paris. So I’m very happy that I held my nerves and yeah, it’s an amazing feeling.”
It was Sinner’s fourth Grand Slam trophy and his first title since returning from a short doping ban after testing positive for a banned substance which inadvertently entered his system from a member of his support team through massages and sports therapy.
While Sunday’s duel contained some mind-boggling points, it lacked the twists of last month’s Roland Garros roller-coaster.
It did, though, underline why the Sinner-Alcaraz rivalry is set to dominate men’s tennis for the foreseeable future.
Since the start of the 2024, they have won all seven of the Grand Slams on offer, Sinner four and Alcaraz three.
Alcaraz had led their series 8-4 before Sunday, including winning their last five showdowns. So while Sinner was fuelled by a shot at redemption, he also needed to buck that trend.
He did so with a superlative display of craft and skill. He refused to be knocked off track by losing the last four games of the first set and went on to pick apart Alcaraz’s game with a level of tennis his opponent could not match.
GREAT RIVALRY
“Every time we play against each other, I think our level is really high,” Alcaraz, who suffered his first loss in six Grand Slam finals, said. “I don’t see any players playing against each other, having the level that we are playing.
“Really grateful for this (rivalry) because it gives me the opportunity to give my 100% every practice, every day. The level I have to maintain if I want to beat Jannik is really high.”
But for Alcaraz’s astonishing comeback in Paris, Sinner would now hold all four Grand Slam titles, having won last year’s U.S. Open and a second Australian Open in January.
Sinner did benefit from a stroke of luck when Grigor Dimitrov retired while two sets up in the fourth round.
“He caught a break, no question,” his coach Darren Cahill admitted.
But from that point on, Sinner barely put a foot wrong.
Alcaraz, below his best, was always vulnerable to Sinner’s crisp, early ball-striking but still hit back from a slow start and clinched the first set with a stretching backhand sliced winner from an impossible position.
Sinner grabbed an early break in the second though and consolidated it despite a bizarre moment when a Champagne cork popping and landed on the court — prompting loud boos.
Just as Alcaraz sealed the opening set in style, Sinner produced a moment of magic to take the second, whipping an audacious forehand winner at full elastic stretch.
The third set felt crucial and after a lull it was Alcaraz who blinked, dropping serve at 4-4 after a slide and slip on the baseline allowed Sinner to guide away a winner.
Sinner held serve to move one set from history but after what happened in Paris, the finishing line still felt far away.
But the usual Alcaraz exuberance was missing and he was scowling after Sinner clubbed away a backhand winner off a short second serve to gain an early break in the fourth and his mood darkened as Sinner held serve for 4-2 lead with a net cord.
Sinner survived a huge test of his nerve at 4-3, 15-40 when a break may have re-ignited Alcaraz but he showed remarkable composure to take the next four points.
The biggest examination came at 5-4 though with Sinner obliged to serve for the title and he passed it with barely a backward glance.
In the day’s appetiser, eighth seeds Veronika Kudermetova and Elise Mertens beat Hsieh Su-wei and Jelena Ostapenko 3-6 6-2 6-4 in the women’s doubles final.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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