Jannik Sinner became the first male player since 2007 to successfully defend his Wimbledon title after overcoming Alexander Zverev in Sunday’s final.
Not since Roger Federer, who won three consecutive titles at SW19 between 2004 and 2007, had a player reclaimed the men’s singles title at the All-England Club until Sinner shone on Centre Court.
The world number one claimed a 6-7, 7-9, 7-6, 7-2, 6-3 6-4 victory in just under four hours to secure his fifth grand slam crown overall, but Sinner did not have it all his own way.
Having previously won 14 consecutive sets against Zverev, Sinner was unable to get to grips with the German’s serve before going down in a lengthy first-set tie-break.
With break points rare across an enthralling first and second set, Sinner then fell on the right side of another tie-break, reeling off four straight points to force Zverev into a position he could not recover from.
The world number three, who will move up a place to take Carlos Alcaraz’s second spot with his performance at Wimbledon, seemed to struggle from that point on as Sinner started to perform better against his serve.
Not until the eighth game of set three did either player break, however, with Sinner snatching that crucial break to go 5-3 up before slamming an ace centrally to seal the third set and a 2-1 lead.
A similar pattern followed in the fourth set as Sinner squandered two break points in the seventh game, only to grab the third chance after arrowing a forehand winner down the line following deuce.
Sinner moved closer to victory with a gorgeous backhand drop-shot after being brought forward by Zverev, who was then caught out of position as the Italian slammed a winner to seal the title.
Sinner is the first player to claim the men’s singles title at Wimbledon without conceding games on serve in the semi-final, 1/1 break point saved, and in the final, 1/1, since Federer in 2003.
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His five major titles are also as many as the combined total of all other Italian players, two for Nicola Pietrangeli and one for Adriano Panatta, Francesca Schiavone and Flavia Pennetta each.
But this final was not all straightforward for the 24-year-old, who thrashed 58 winners and produced only 25 unforced errors.
Those two metrics were the key difference, with Zverev committing 20 more unforced errors in a final largely decided by who could better manipulate their opponent from the baseline.
Heading into the final, much focus was also on Zverev’s ability with the ball in hand, but even the 29-year-old’s 17 aces, two more than Sinner, were not enough for the Roland-Garros champion.
He will still look back fondly on the last two months, having won his maiden major title at the French Open in June before reaching the final at Wimbledon, where he had never previously passed the fourth round.
But he just cannot find a way past Sinner; “I don’t like you anymore,” is what Zverev joked with his opponent after the loss, having suffered 10 straight defeats to the Italian.
