By Admin 
Jannik Sinner’s emotionally restrained, methodical and precise tennis earned its greatest gift yet as he dethroned two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to win his first Wimbledon and fourth Major title.
For the World No. 1, it was sweet revenge for the Roland-Garros defeat, where Alcaraz had beaten him from three championship-points down in the fourth set. The 23-year-old is now the first Italian to win the singles trophy at SW19.
For Alcaraz, it was a humbling experience as he was thoroughly outplayed, but for a brief period late in the opening set. It didn’t help that the 22-year-old came up with a disastrous serving performance, landing just over half of his first serves and dumping seven double-faults.
The opening four games felt like a boxing feel out. Both players peppered every part of the service box in the hope of finding an ever-so-slight weakness. Once that was done and mental notes made, action shifted to the grass beyond the 21ft x 13.5ft area.
And it was Sinner’s turn to break first, in the fifth game, with two fierce backhand drives setting things up. Alcaraz, though, restored parity in the eighth, capitalising on a slew of unforced errors.
Then, at 4-4, the Spaniard lifted his level. At 15-30, he sent a superb kick serve, a backhand winner and planted an ace to go 5-4 up. On the subsequent Sinner serve, on his second set-point, he hit the shot – rather block – of the match until then.
Italy’s Jannik Sinner in action during the men’s singles final against Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz
| Photo Credit:
Reuters
A Sinner forehand that would have won the point against most players was not only tracked down but sent back in the form of a cross-court drop winner. The crowd erupted, Alcaraz bounced up and down and left Sinner looking like someone who had just been struck by a lightning.
But Alcaraz’s bane has always been his penchant to drift out at inopportune times. He started the second set with a double-fault and was duly broken. Even though he threatened each of Sinner’s next three service games, the latter stonewalled all attempts.
It wasn’t long before Sinner levelled it at one-set apiece, with two superb forehand winners, one down the line and the other hit cross-court on the run.
Runner up Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz with a trophy after losing the men’s singles final against Italy’s Jannik Sinner.
| Photo Credit:
Reuters
In the ninth game of the third stanza, Sinner sliced open the contest, with his forehand again doing the damage. At 30-30, he hit an inside-in winner, and another clean drive earned him an easy put away.
Alcaraz slipped and fell while chasing the last shot, and Sinner immediately stopped exulting and waited until the World No. 2 gave him a thumbs-up. The niceties, though, ended there as the reigning US Open and Australian Open champion took a two-sets-to-one lead with a blistering service winner.
At 1-1 in the fourth, Sinner made the play again, earning a break-point with a looping backhand winner. A thunderous backhand return ensured a 2-1 lead. When he held to 4-2 via a lucky net-cord at 40-30, lady luck, after deserting him in Paris last month, seemed to have crossed over to his corner. So much so that he even got out of a 15-40 hole serving at 4-3.
As Alcaraz held to 4-5, the crowd went up in chorus chanting the Spaniard’s name. But Sinner silenced them with a cold-blooded hold that was finished off with a monstrous service winner.