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Sinner sweeps aside Alcaraz, wins first Wimbledon title
The world No.1 dashes the Spaniard’s hopes of a third win in a row, becomes first Italian to win a Wimbledon singles crown
Mumbai: Between the French Open and Wimbledon, Jannik Sinner spent a few sleepless nights.
Between the French Open and Wimbledon, his single with legendary tenor Andrea Bocelli, titled “Dust and Glory”, was released.
Between the French Open and Wimbledon, he went from dust on the dirt to glory on the greens. Playing the same man at the same stage of a Grand Slam within a month.
How’s that for a redemption song?
Tune up to your new Wimbledon champion – Jannik Sinner.
The world No.1, so in sync with his tennis on grass, made even the two-time defending champion at Wimbledon and his conqueror at Roland Garros dance to his tunes at Centre Court on Sunday. Carlos Alcaraz was the favourite and frontrunner, yet it was Sinner who flipped things for a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 victory.
If that French Open final was an exhaustive five-setter in which Sinner saw three championship points turn into a crushing defeat, this Wimbledon final was a cat-and-mouse four-setter in which the Italian let the first set slip but remained supreme thereafter.
And so, this time when on the second championship point, the Italian’s serve did not return, he stood with his arms spread wide on Centre Court. The 23-year-old had finally got the better of his most fierce rival, who’d beaten him five times in a row, at the most iconic Grand Slam.
Sinner has indeed moved on. From the French Open agony to Wimbledon ecstasy. From joining Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray as the only men to have played all four Slam finals in the last three decades, to clinching the first Wimbledon final without either of the four since 2002. From recording his first musical in a studio to scripting history as the first Italian – male or female – to carve a name on the Wimbledon trophy.
Defeats in Grand Slam finals can linger. Defeats in Grand Slam finals from being one good hit away from history can drown even the world No.1 in a wave of daze. Sinner found himself down there fighting the never-ending what-ifs chain of thought. It took him a few days and some ping pong games to snap it. With his tennis, he was back up there at Wimbledon.
So far so good, but how about fronting up with the same man for another final? Brings back harrowing memories?
“If it would be a lot in my head,” answered the Italian before the final, “I would not be in the situation to play a final again, I guess.”
Not just play a final, win it.
After setting the tone for their encore with an ace, Alcaraz was under early pressure when his first serves dropped. Sinner attacked his second serves and extracted errors to fetch the break in the fifth game.
The polished baseliner was showing spunk in moving forward, albeit with mixed success, while also mixing it up with drops and volleys.
But as Alcaraz brought out his own drop shot and ramped up his baseline intensity, he got back level at 4-4. The Spaniard began making shots he was missing and finding his first serves. Sinner now began losing his serves, and when he also lost his footing around the worn out brown patch at the baseline, a set point stared at him.
So did another, after the first was saved. Alcaraz wasn’t letting a second one slip. He came out on top of a brutal baseline exchange by ekeing out the acutest of angles for a backhand get at full stretch which floated across the net and dropped dead. The final had been brought to life.
That was typical Alcaraz. As was what followed.
In three of his previous six matches, Alcaraz squandered the second set after having sailed through the shores in the first. In the final too, out of nowhere, Alcaraz had a dip to land in troubled 0-40 waters at the start of the second set, and soon went down a break. Sinner was up in front, yet hardly in complete control. His service games were taken to deuce territory, the strapped elbow tested and the legs pushed. Still, the world No.1 stood tall and firm.
And, this time, the Italian wasn’t going to cave in at the business end of the set. This time, it was Sinner signing off with a gasp-inducing point serving for the set. This time, it was Sinner finding the acutest of angles for a crosscourt forehand winner after a baseline tussle.
There was early pressure on the Spaniard’s serve again in the third set, where he was made to thwart a couple of break points in the first game. Sinner was growing to Sinner-like levels in the contest, even feeling the comfort to attempt a between-the-legs shot at the net.
Alcaraz was slipping in his serving and concentration levels. At 4-4, with Alcaraz’s first strikes dwindling -- he made just 43% first serves to his opponent’s 68% -- Sinner pounced on his second serves. A brilliant return of serve followed by a cracking winner set up a break point. And as Sinner broke, Alcaraz stumbled.
Alcaraz couldn’t get back up in the third set, or even in the fourth. He was flat, Sinner was firing. A break in the third game came, fittingly, with a backhand return winner from Sinner off Alcaraz’s susceptible second serve.
Unlike in Paris, he wouldn’t let this advantage slip in London. Sinner has moved on from that French Open. He’s now a Wimbledon champion.
