After eight and a half hours of breathless cross-channel duelling, Carlos Alcaraz ran out of miracles and Jannik Sinner got him at last. The world No1 had the trophy within reach in Paris but it was snatched away; 35 days later in London he seized the title and this time his grasp did not waver.
Sinner won his first Wimbledon crown, inflicting Alcaraz’s first ever defeat in a Grand Slam final and ending the Spaniard’s run of five straight victories in their personal duel.
We came expecting a sequel to the five and a half hour French Open final, in which Alcaraz saved three match points to win. This contest did not stack up for drama and that was down to the relentless brilliance of Sinner.
Aside from a four-game flash of genius from Alcaraz to take the opening set, Sinner was a cut above, winning 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.
The day after Iga Swiatek became the first Pole to win a singles title at Wimbledon, Sinner became the first Italian. And so the two players to have served doping bans over the last 12 months are united as Wimbledon champions. Some believe they got off lightly, others that tennis is hounding accidental cases too aggressively. Either way it is an uncomfortable look for the All England Club.
We have to say first that Sinner was fortunate to reach this stage – and not only because of the convenient timing of his three-month ban. In the last 16 against Grigor Dimitrov he was two sets in arrears and struggling with elbow pain before the Bulgarian tore a pectoral muscle and was forced to retire.
Jannik Sinner won the Wimbledon title for the first time as he overcame Carlos Alcaraz
Sinner managed to get the better of Alcaraz with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 victory
Alcaraz had won the past two editions of Wimbledon but he was beaten on this occasion
Since then, Sinner has looked unstoppable.
He and Alcaraz were the first duo to contest finals at Roland Garros and Wimbledon in the same year since Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in 2008, but in style this matchup owes more to Federer against Novak Djokovic.
Alcaraz has Federer’s graceful footwork and hand skills, while Sinner is souped-up version of Djokovic – the freakish flexibility, the endless precision, the expertise on return of serve.
And, just as Djokovic did to Federer in their three finals here, Sinner was able to smother Alcaraz’s creativity with the depth and accuracy of his groundstrokes.
Alcaraz looked ragged by the end. The man of limitless ingenuity had run out of ideas.
Tennis is betting the house on these two to lead the sport into a new era and in that context this was the desired result. Had Alcaraz won a sixth straight match against Sinner this would have felt like a rivalry in name only.
As it is, Sinner is 4-5 down in their personal Grand Slam contest and will be a favourite to level the score in New York later this year.
What a rivalry this is turning out to be, and the players’ choice of warm-up court illustrated their contrasting personalities. Sinner was on the Aorangi practice courts away from prying eyes; Alcaraz at the epicentre of Wimbledon on a packed court 14.
It felt like Alcaraz was over-pressing the whole match – he landed just 53 per cent of his first serves
This was the result that this rivalry needed, with Sinner showing what he is capable of
He is a man of the people, partying in Ibiza after winning the French Open and playing golf on his days off here at Wimbledon. Sinner is all business. A stone-cold killer. The unsmiling assassin.
As the two-time defending champion, Alcaraz ought to have been the more relaxed. The onus should have been on Sinner to step up his game.
In reality it was the reverse: Alcaraz was over-pressing the whole match. He landed just 53 per cent of his first serves as he pushed for more speed than was comfortable, twice hitting the fastest serve of his career, at 139 and then 140mph. There were eight double faults, too, and if all this was down to a fear of the Sinner return then that fear was well justified.
Sinner took a 4-2 lead in an opening chapter short of Alcaraz magic – it is tough to reach for your box of tricks when your hands are up fending off blows.
But just like that, Alcaraz flicked a switch and entered a state of Nirvana.
He dummied to drop shot then slid the ball deep instead, following it up with a backhand volley dinked inches from the net.
He dumped Sinner on his backside with a wrong-footing drop shot.
On set point, when Sinner lasered what looked a certain forehand winner down the line, Alcaraz launched himself to his left and sent a backhand skimming low for a winner.
Sinner confirmed himself as the heir to Djokovic as the greatest returner in the world
After losing to Alcaraz in the French Open final, Sinner showed great quality to win this time
It was an extraordinary passage of play but felt unsustainable, and Alcaraz began the second set with a double fault en route to conceding a break.
As Sinner surged, he departed from his usual eerie, menacing silence and celebratory waggles of the racket. There was a big fist pump and a ‘C’mon’ – quite possibly the first sound that passed his lips on court this fortnight.
Alcaraz’s concentration wavered with a couple of over-elaborate drop shots, some injudicious net approaches.
Appropriately, as with the first set, the second was won with a sublime rally. Sinner skated out to his backhand side at full stretch then hurtled the other way, setting off on a slide and whipping a forehand cross court for a winner. If Alcaraz is a feast for the eyes then Sinner is a symphony for the ears: the scratch of tennis shoe sliding over grass; the whip-crack of a forehand.
It used to be you could only slide on clay. Then players learned to do so on hard courts and Djokovic was the first to bring that to grass. Sinner spent a training camp last month perfecting that skill and it has transformed his lawn tennis. Alcaraz traverses the court with the more traditional feathery footsteps of a Federer and here it felt like Sinner’s more aggressive, dynamic movement gave him the edge.
As Sinner moved 3-1 ahead in the fourth set, the question was whether Alcaraz could pull a Paris again; whether Sinner’s physiological wound from that match – not so much scar tissue as an open sore – would enfeeble him.
Serving at 4-3, Sinner played three poor points to go 15-40 down – was it happening again?
But he won the next seven points in a row to find himself 40-0 up and with three match points – just like in Paris. That was on the Alcaraz serve though and Sinner had the balls in hand this time, slamming down a big serve on his second match point. He stood with legs wide and arms outstretched: a colossus who bestrides the tennis world.
