Wimbledon 2025: Jannik Sinner finds vindication after French Open heartbreak with biggest win of his career

With one hand already on the trophy, nearly three hours into one of the biggest matches of his career, Jannik Sinner’s worst humiliation may well have played on his mind.

It had only been five weeks since the Italian had squandered three championship points for the French Open title, before losing in five sets to Carlos Alcaraz. Sinner’s rival had won the last five matches against him going into their next title clash, the biggest match on the tennis calendar.

During Sunday’s Wimbledon final, Sinner had once again used his measured, yet destructive, game to find the decisive breakthrough for a 2-1 sets lead and was up a break in the fourth. But with Alcaraz charging at him again, the Italian was once again staring at the possibility of slipping up, with the Spaniard up double break point in the eighth game of the set.

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For Sinner, during his ascent to the top of men’s tennis, his consistency and composure has been as much of a hallmark of his game as his pure ball-striking and baseline domination. The World No.1 hardly shows any sign of cracking under the pressure of the spotlight, repetitively executing his fine-tuned game plans with near perfection. This is what made the French Open final such an oddity. And on Sunday, it would be confirmed that what happened in Paris was no more than that.

Sinner would find his best serving form when needed, quell Alcaraz’s late charge this time around, and round out a deserved 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 victory to win his first Wimbledon title and fourth Major trophy: his first away from hard courts. He became the first Italian, male or female, to win the singles title at SW19, and now holds three of the four Grand Slam titles. He handed Alcaraz his first defeat in a Major final.

Jannik Sinner is a Wimbledon champion ???? The world No.1 defeats Carlos Alcaraz 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to win the 2025 Gentlemen’s Singles Trophy ??#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/UMnwV4Fw78 — Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 13, 2025

“It’s mostly emotional, because I had a very tough loss in Paris,” Sinner said on court after victory. “But at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter how you win or how you lose at important tournaments, you just have to understand what you did wrong and try to work on that, and that’s exactly what we did. We tried to accept the loss and just kept working. This is for sure one of the reasons I am holding this trophy here.”

Not a classic

The match did not have the same epic feel of their clash in Paris last month. Instead, it was a slow-burner – perhaps even a tad boring compared to some of the other resounding encounters this duo has already produced – in which Sinner was decidedly better in the baseline exchanges, constantly keeping Alcaraz uncomfortable when they went toe-to-toe, groundstroke for groundstroke.

The Spaniard is the more experienced, the better grass player; he was vying to become only the fifth man to win three consecutive Wimbledon titles. Key to that success is his charismatic spark; he is able to produce scintillating tennis at important moments, his very best tennis is better than anyone around at the moment.

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But at his lows, Alcaraz is not as steady and composed as Sinner. Cold-blooded and merciless, the latter took advantage of an off-colour Alcaraz, relentlessly pulverising the ball from the baseline, returning his sloppy serves with vindictiveness, and himself keeping a level head through it all. Alcaraz would fall prey to the same metronomic consistency that proved to be too much for seven-time champion Novak Djokovic in their semifinal a couple of days prior.

The match kicked off with the two feeling each other out and while Alcaraz constantly attempted to go up another gear, Sinner fended him off until the final exchanges of the first set, in which the Spaniard outclassed him on the crucial points to run away with the opener.

But Sinner’s steadiness prevailed from there. He picked up an early break and contended with a peaking Alcaraz throughout the second, serving phenomenally, and himself found some clutch shots toward the end of the set to level the scores.

From there, Alcaraz simply dipped. His forehand was leaking more errors than it was painting the lines. His first-serve success rate fell to 44 percent in the third and fourth sets. His deftness at the net and usually fine touch betrayed him.

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Instead, it was Sinner who took all the initiative. He used his first-strike power to take control before moving to the forecourt to win points – as opposed to the more baseline-heavy strategy he used at Roland Garros. He approached the net double the number of times that Alcaraz did throughout this match and had a higher success rate. He found sting behind his backhand, especially when he took it down the line while returning second serves.

And even as the familiar fears began creeping in at the back end of the fourth set, Sinner’s best came out, and vindication was achieved. Not many players would have backed up their worst humiliation with their career’s biggest triumph in such emphatic fashion against the same opponent in just over a month. For such a no-frills player, no wonder the Italian was so emotional at the end.

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