Sinner had already hit a high before the final in demolishing the all-time great Novak Djokovic in straight sets without giving him an inkling of a chance
It is said of great players that they find the way to victory, which is exactly what Jannik Sinner did in retaining his title at Wimbledon. Having dealt with an almighty scare in the first round from the virtually unknown Miomir Kecmanovic, who took him to five sets, the Italian became the first man in 48 years to survive and win the cup at London’s SW19.
Resilience has been the remarkable quality in Sinner’s journey to a fifth Grand Slam in the final of which he did not have to face his fiercest competitor in recent slams in the young Alcaraz who is yet to recover from injury. The German Alexander Zverev has stepped up in Alcaraz’s absence, winning a maiden grand slam in the French Open and jousting with world No. 1 Sinner.
In a final that was developing into a typical Wimbledon classic of strapping athletes backing a booming service with precision in the first two sets that went into tiebreakers, Sinner just about got the better of Zverev. In one remarkable point he fell but regained his balance to keep the ball in play and find the winner to ultimately prevail in the second set tiebreaker.
Sinner had already hit a high before the final in demolishing the all-time great Novak Djokovic in straight sets without giving him an inkling of a chance. Ironically, Zverev too had fallen heavily on the wearing grass and wasn’t the same again after his opponent had sportingly given him a helping hand to get up. Wrapping up matches by wearing down opponents with precision backing perseverance in sticking to percentage play is Sinner’s speciality.
There were colourful stories on the distaff side too with two Czech players coming through a quality women’s field in which the top 20 players seem equally capable of beating each other. It was the young Linda Novoska who took the shield from British royalty soon after she won a battle against her own nerves. At 6-2, 5-2, she was on the verge of a historic win over Karolina Muchova when the very thought of victory seemed to consume the 21-year-old.
Resilience was the much-needed quality there too as Novoska clawed back to save three break points in the first game of the final set and didn’t look back as she let her powerful serves take over again before joining a long list of Czech champions beginning with the incomparable 9-time Wimbledon winner Martina Navratilova, who was present to watch her fellow Czechs in the three-set final.
