Jannik Sinner successfully defended his Wimbledon title on Sunday afternoon, triumphing over Alexander Zverev 6-7(7), 7-6(2), 6-3, 6-4 in a serve-fest of a final.
Surprisingly, it is Sinner’s first Grand Slam title in what has been an otherwise dominant 2026 campaign for the 24-year-old. He has won all five Masters 1000 tournaments but lost to Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open semis and — because of physical problems — to Juan Manuel Cerundolo the French Open second round.
On the heels of those two hiccups, Sinner made sure to restore order at the All-England Club.
Although it was by a no means routine, the world No. 1 recovered from dropping the first set in a tiebreaker to take the next three in succession and prevail after three hours and 46 minutes. He did not drop serve a single time and faced only one break point. As a result of such dominant serving, just two breaks of his own — one in each of the last two sets — were more than enough for Sinner to get across the finish line. The two competitors combined for 32 aces compared to a mere four double-faults and Zverev kept himself competitive pretty much the whole way by serving at an incredible 76 percent.
“For me this one means a lot because (it) was a tough one after Paris,” Sinner reflected. “Last year (it) was also tough. But coming here, I tried to put myself in the best possible position to be as competitive as possible. Yeah, we put in a lot of workdays in Monaco — very, very long. (I was ) definitely sacrificing a lot of my time and everything to be in this position. Having this achievement, it means a lot to me. Yeah, it was an amazing day today.
“(It was a) very tough match today against Sascha. (I) feel like (we) both (played at a) very high level.”
Zverev was bidding for his second consecutive major title. He took advantage of Sinner’s early exit from Roland Garros to finally lift a Grand Slam winner’s trophy for the first time in his career. But when he had to face Sinner this time around at the All-England Club, a 10th consecutive head-to-head loss was the result.
The 29-year-old German has now failed to break Sinner in an absurd 87 straight return games.
“I felt like we were playing on a very, very similar level, which is extremely high,” he assessed. “I think both of us were playing at an extremely high level (in) the first two sets. I missed an unfortunate forehand to start the second-set tiebreak. That kind of changed the momentum a little bit.
“Overall I thought that the level was very good. I thought it was quite (a) high level throughout the match from both of us.”
nice one, Fox
Yeah just looking and an Alcaraz comeback seems doubtful at the present time
Very true. He supposedly returns at Cincinnati in a month. If so, there is no clarity where that leads.
I actually think that’s a fair assessment of the match from both the players, in that article. I know some people accuse Zverev of arrogance, which to me isn’t compatible with his tendency for self-doubt that’s hampered him a lot in the past (and he’s making progress on that now).
But this is genuinely the best and most confident tennis I’ve seen from Zverev vs Sinner and the first two sets turned on a dime. There wasn’t even that much disparity in the last two sets, from a level perspective; it’s mostly that Sinner brought the best level at the right time, which is also Djokovic’s biggest champion quality.
Now maybe Alcaraz can give Zverev some pointers in playing with joy and a sense of fun. Zverev doesn’t look quite as much like he’s in pain anymore, but he’s still very German-serious.
This was a hard fought match Unlike their previous encounters. Zverev played really well. Specially his serve.
Sinner proved why at 24 he is already an all time great. He raised his game when he needed it most and found an answer to everything that was thrown at him.
serve AND forehand
Zverev is surprisingly agile for such a tall person. Can’t recall any 6-6 tall tennis player who was as athletic as him.
but most of those 6’6” prototypes are moving better and better these days