Jannik Sinner kisses the winner's trophy after defeating Alexander Zverev of Germany in the men's singles final at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London on Sunday.Kin Cheung/The Associated Press
Coming into the Wimbledon men’s final on Sunday the big question facing Jannik Sinner was whether he could handle the unusually warm temperatures and the newly invigorated Alexander Zverev, the world No. 3 who was fresh off his win at the French Open.
Until his victory in Paris last month, Zverev had played in 40 Grand Slam tournaments over 10 years without winning one. He’d arrived in London with new-found confidence which powered him into Sunday’s final, the farthest he’d ever gone at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.
“Once you win a major you know how to do it and you feel like you can do it again. You have this feeling inside of you,” the 29-year-old German told reporters this week.
But beating Sinner – the defending Wimbledon champion and world No. 1 – was going to be a huge step. The Italian had won nine of their last nine head-to-head matches, taking six in straight sets.
Sunday’s final ended up more of the same. Sinner won 6-7, 7-6, 6-3, 6-4, to claim his second Wimbledon victory and fifth Grand Slam title.
“First of all, Jannik, I don’t really like you any more. I lost to you nine times in a row,” Zverev said with a smile in an on-court interview after the match, forgetting that this was actually his 10th straight defeat to Sinner.
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There had been speculation that Sinner, 24, might wilt in the heat, much like he did at the French Open when the temperature soared to 40 C. He lost in the second round to Argentine Juan Manuel Cerundolo in five sets despite leading 2-0 and 5-1 in the third set. While London has been experiencing some hot weather, the thermometer didn’t get nearly as high on Sunday.
Zverev started the match like he had nothing to lose. He blasted serves at 222 km/h and landed far more of his first serves in than Sinner. When he wobbled a bit in the eighth game with a double fault that handed Sinner a break point, he won the next three points and watched Sinner flub two returns.
Sinner didn’t look nearly as sharp as he did in his straight-sets win over Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals, but he still took the opening set to a tiebreaker.
Neither man gave an inch and they took the tiebreak to 7-7. Sinner was the first to crack. After returning Zverev’s serve with the German leading 8-7, Sinner couldn’t handle Zverev’s forehand winner down the line. Zverev took the set 7-6 and let out a roar of approval.
They stayed even in the second set and went to another tiebreaker. This time it was Zverev who folded. Sinner jumped out to a 4-0 lead and won 7-2. Even though Zverev was landing 85 per cent of his first serves, Sinner was getting better at reading them and turning defence into offence.
“I missed an unfortunate forehand to start the second-set tiebreak. That kind of changed the momentum a little bit,” Zverev told reporters after the match.
Champion Jannik Sinner of Italy and runner-up Alexander Zverev of Germany pose with their trophies after the men's singles final at Wimbledon on Sunday.Kirsty Wigglesworth/The Associated Press
From then on Zverev’s form began to sag while Sinner’s game picked up. Even when the German finally had his first break point opportunity of the match, Sinner slammed the door with a drop shot that Zverev tried to run down only to slip and tumble to the court.
Sinner won a break in the next game and went on to win the third set 6-3. Zverev responded by throwing his racquet onto the court.
He said later that he overextended his knee in the fall. “I was struggling to push off on the serve a little bit. So, my serve speed went down,” he told reporters.
The fourth set was still more Sinner. Zverev managed to fend off two break points in the seventh game; but Sinner won the third one and never looked back. They closed out the match with a wild game that included a 23-shot rally, won by Sinner.
After the match Sinner told reporters that the heat, the sunshine, and the wind were all factors that he managed to overcome.
“I tried to understand where the best position would be to return his serve, but it’s so difficult that you can stand very close, but also very far,” he said. He added that “tennis is more about confidence. When you’re feeling confident, you feel that playing tennis is easier in that way.”
Despite the loss, Zverev will overtake the injured Carlos Alcaraz and move up to world No. 2. When the Spanish superstar returns, Zverev hopes it will mark the start of a new “big three” era.
“There was always this conversation: Who will be the third guy? The search for the third guy,” he told reporters. “I’ve always been No. 3 in a way. So if I get closer to them, if I can be in the mix, of course competing and winning the big tournaments with them, alongside them, it would be great.”