Top-ranked Jannik Sinner moved past a crushing defeat to Carlos Alcaraz at last month’s French Open to win their highly anticipated rematch 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 on Sunday and claim his first Wimbledon title and fourth major championship.
Just five weeks after the world Nos. 1 and 2 played the second-longest men’s major final on the red clay of Roland-Garros — with Alcaraz overcoming a two-set deficit and saving three match points along the way — it was Sinner who had to rally after dropping the opening set on grass to the two-time defending Wimbledon champion.
Sinner, a 22-year-old from Italy who won the US Open last September and defended his Australian Open title in January, was playing in his fourth consecutive Grand Slam final but first at the All England Club. He is the first Italian player to win a Wimbledon singles title.
The matchup at Centre Court marked the first time the same two men faced off in the title matches at the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year since Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal did it in 2006, 2007 and 2008.
Sinner led 4-2 early in the match, but Alcaraz reeled off four straight games to snag the first set. In the second, Sinner broke Alcaraz in the opening game and held serve the rest of the way — this despite being interrupted by a fan in the stands popping open a champagne bottle as Sinner was getting ready to serve out the game at 2-1 up. The cork landed at Sinner’s feet.
Sinner broke Alcaraz for a 5-4 lead en route to claiming the pivotal third set, firing seven aces after having 0 across the opening two sets.
The 532-day span between Sinner’s 2024 Australian Open and Wimbledon victories is the second shortest by any man to win his first four majors, after Federer (434 days from 2003 Wimbledon to 2004 US Open).
Alcaraz, who was riding a career-best 24-match winning streak, had beaten Sinner five times in a row entering Sunday’s final and was 35-3 on grass in his tour-level career, his .921 win percentage in those matches the best by any man in the Open era.
Sinner, who won their previous meeting at Wimbledon in 2022, became the first man to defeat Alcaraz twice on grass. Alcaraz’s only other losses on the surface came against Daniil Medvedev at Wimbledon in 2021 and Jack Draper at 2024 Queen’s Club.
Sinner wore an arm sleeve with tape to protect his right elbow, something he had been using since falling in the opening game of his fourth-round match against Grigor Dimitrov. After eliminating 24-time major champion Novak Djokovic in the semifinals, Sinner said he didn’t think his elbow would be an issue in the final.
ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
