Jannik Sinner’s breakthrough Wimbledon title represents a triumph of resilience – rewriting his fortunes with precision.
The world No.1 had lost just nine matches since the beginning of 2024, yet remarkably, more than half of those had been to one man – Carlos Alcaraz.
Early in Sunday’s final on Centre Court, it appeared that losing trend would continue as Sinner found himself trailing by a set and confronting the possibility of a 4-9 head-to-head record against his biggest rival.
But just a single break of serve in each of the remaining three sets was enough of a push to swing the pendulum back in his direction.
Mirroring the Roland Garros final 35 days earlier, against the same opponent, Sinner found himself serving for the title at 5-4 in the fourth set. On this occasion, he flipped the result – closing out victory and becoming the first Italian name on a singles trophy at Wimbledon.
As the sport’s most captivating rivalry officially added another compelling chapter, this time it was Sinner gaining revenge with a 4-6 6-4 6-4 6-4 triumph over the two-time defending champion.
“The differences are very small, and the margins are very tiny,” Sinner said.
“Today I felt like that I got lucky couple of times, hitting some lines, the things what went his way in Paris went my way this time.
“[Bouncing back from Roland Garros] I think is the part where I'm the proudest of because it really has not been easy.
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“That's why I also said after Roland Garros that it's not the time to put me down, because another Grand Slam is coming up, and I did great here.”
Fuelled by the heartbreak of Paris, Sinner avenged that defeat thanks to a refreshed mindset, getting one back on a player for whom he has so much respect.
“I keep looking up to Carlos because, even today, I felt like he was doing couple of things better than I did,” Sinner said, after ending Alcaraz’ 20-match win streak at Wimbledon, and his unbeaten run in 24 matches overall.
“So that's something where we will work on and prepare ourselves because he's going to come for us again.
“It's important to have these kinds of players because you have to always think and have the strength to go on practice courts and keep going.”
Sinner not only turned things around in his match-up with Alcaraz, but he turned his entire tournament around from where he found himself in his round-of-16 match against Grigor Dimitrov.
Battling an elbow injury and being completely outplayed by the No.19 seed, Sinner faced a two-sets-to-love deficit before Dimitrov’s run was heartbreakingly cut short by injury in the third set, forcing him to retire.
“We in the box still had great belief he was going to dig his way out of that hole, and we felt like he was just starting to play the way we wanted,” Sinner’s coach Darren Cahill recalled.
“The way Grigor was playing, if he continued to play at that level, then yeah, he was a good chance to close it out.
“Nobody goes through a tournament without a hiccup, whether it be an injury or a little bit of luck or you get yourself out of an early round problem.
“Everybody has a story in a Grand Slam. Maybe this was going to be his story.”
Sinner is now three-quarters of the way to a career Grand Slam and is the youngest player since Roger Federer in 2004 to simultaneously hold the Australian Open, US Open and Wimbledon crowns.
“[It’s] the tournament I always dreamed of just playing and to be part of. And now sitting here with the trophy... it's amazing,” Sinner smiled.
“Winning Wimbledon here is the most special thing you can have. I don't compare it with the surface or not. Wimbledon, it's different.”