Jannik Sinner Turns the Tables on Carlos Alcaraz to Win First Wimbledon Title

TJannik Sinner celebrates after beating Carlos Alcaraz to win the Wimbledon title.

London

The possibility of Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz squaring off in the Wimbledon final had become a tennis obsession long before they stepped on Centre Court on Sunday. It had begun the moment they closed out their 5.5-hour duel at the French Open last month.

That match had confirmed them beyond doubt as the two men defining a new era of tennis. The question here was whether they could possibly deliver another spectacle as taut, as tense, and as brilliantly executed as their duel in Paris five weeks earlier.

They didn’t disappoint. The difference this time was that Sinner, the 23-year-old from Italy, was the one left holding the trophy.

He edged past Alcaraz 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 after a 3-hour, 4-minute mano-a-mano of impossibly high standards. The victory, Sinner’s first at the All England Club, marked his fourth Grand Slam and denied Alcaraz a third consecutive title here.

It also meant that in the grand accounting of their rivalry, their series in major finals is now tied at one apiece. And considering where they are in their respective careers, Alcaraz and Sinner’s business here is far from done. Their combined age was the lowest for a men’s final at Wimbledon since 2006, when a young Roger Federer (24) defeated an even younger Rafael Nadal (20).

Back then, fans on Centre Court could already tell they were witnessing tennis history. And on Sunday, the expectations were exactly the same.

Alcaraz took it upon himself to drive the spectacle in the first set, coming back from 2-4 down to lead 5-4 before closing it out with a point that seemed lost at least twice. He scrambled to his left to dig out a short backhand winner. Alcaraz’s title defense—and his hunt for a sixth major championship before the age of 23—were on.

Carlos Alcaraz failed to win his third consecutive Wimbledon title.

But in the second, nothing could derail Sinner, not even a rogue champagne cork that shot out of the crowd with an audible pop and landed on the grass behind him. (“Please refrain from opening champagne bottles just as play is about to resume,” the chair umpire announced.) He closed it out with a pair of winners struck so sweetly that Centre Court replied with a standing ovation. The fans had come to Southwest London expecting an epic and now they knew it was on track.

“For me, sharing the big tournaments with Jannik, I think it’s great,” Alcaraz had said here. “We’re just fighting for the tennis to be bigger.”

By now, a few things are guaranteed any time these two share a court: absurd levels of inventiveness from Alcaraz, some of the purest groundstrokes in tennis from Sinner, and a standard of tennis as brilliant as the All England Club has ever seen.

But for all the talk of a growing rivalry, their recent battles had all gone Alcaraz’s way. He came into Sunday’s final on a five-match winning streak against Sinner that dated back to Indian Wells in early 2024. And as for their meetings at major tournaments, Sinner’s most recent victory was in the round of 16 here in 2022.

“I think we evolve as players, and we get better as competitors,” Sinner said before the final. “So of course, you try to do something different. You don’t want to be predictable.”

For unpredictable, see: Sinner’s shot between his legs at the net while facing a break point at 2-3 in the third set. Not only did pull off a shot that isn’t in any textbook, he then followed it up with a smash winner and a crucial hold of serve.

Sinner plays a shot between the legs during the final.

Even as Alcaraz ramped up the pressure, Sinner found solutions when he needed them most. He kept points short and his groundstrokes deep. The eye test said that momentum was swinging gently toward Alcaraz as Sinner’s body appeared to tense up. But the scoreboard soon showed something else: a 2-1 lead for the Italian.

Still, Alcaraz didn’t go quietly. The serving master class continued into the fourth set, with both players ratcheting up to over 120 miles per hour. It took Sinner’s lone break at 2-1 to make the difference. When he finally sealed the match, the clock was just ticking over three hours. The show hadn’t lasted as long as Paris, because no Alcaraz comeback quite materialized.

So this time, it was a Wimbledon title for Sinner, the achievement of a lifelong goal, but it hardly felt like the culmination of something. This series is only getting started.