Sinner became the 10th man in the professional era to successfully defend the Wimbledon title
\n LONDON
\nJannik Sinner retained his Wimbledon title by beating Alexander Zverev 6-7(7) 7-6(2) 6-3 6-4 in the final on Sunday to claim his fifth Grand Slam crown and extend his dominance over the German to 10 straight victories.
\nThe win placed Sinner in rare company as the 10th man in the professional era to successfully defend the title, strengthening his credentials as one of the dominant players of his generation while he chases down big rival Carlos Alcaraz\u2019s seven majors.
\n\u201cThere\u2019s no better place, honestly, to play tennis,\u201d Sinner said as he cradled the pineapple-topped Challenge Cup.
\n\u201cI\u2019m standing here. You can feel the nerves on a Sunday morning when you wake up, that this is a very special day, and you never know how many times you can come back. So I never take things for granted.
\n\u201cPlaying in front of very special people throughout the two weeks. It\u2019s been amazing. Thanks for the support. You\u2019re always amazing to me and you gave me the most special feeling a tennis player can ever feel.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zverev takes early lead
\nBoth finalists slugged it out for 12 games in a high-octane first set on a warm and windy afternoon, before Zverev moved up a gear and hit a powerful forehand winner to clinch a gripping tie-break, yelling and crouching down in celebration.
\nThe clean ball-striking continued but Zverev began to show signs of frustration late in the second set, where a much more animated Sinner gained the upper hand in the tie-break and went on to level the contest at one set apiece.<\/p>\n
Injury scare for German
\nZverev brought up his first break point midway through the third set after more than 2-1\/2 hours, but slipped and fell to the ground after being wrong-footed by a Sinner drop shot. With Zverev screaming out in agony, the Centre Court crowd gasped when he rolled onto his back clutching his right knee.
\nThe second seed dusted himself off and carried on but was left seething when Sinner pounced in the next game to break for a 5-3 lead, slamming his racket to the floor, and soon found himself trailing the Italian two sets to one after nearly three hours of battle.<\/p>\n
Sinner takes full control
\nSinner broke again for a 4-3 advantage in the fourth set as Zverev\u2019s level briefly dipped, and the 24-year-old held firm in an entertaining spell to complete the victory and then collapsed to the threadbare turf in celebration.
\nA dejected Zverev was left to ponder what could have been after a fourth Grand Slam final defeat.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t really like you anymore,\u201d Zverev told Sinner jokingly.
\n\u201cTo be fair, I lost to you nine (sic) times in a row,\u201d he added, losing count of his run of defeats against Sinner.
\n\u201cCongratulations to Jannik, he showed once again why he\u2019s the best player in the world. It was great to share Centre Court with you on the finals weekend. It\u2019s a great honour to be here. Unfortunately, it didn\u2019t go my way.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sinner became the 10th man in the professional era to successfully defend the Wimbledon title LONDON Jannik Sinner retained his Wimbledon title by beating Alexander Zverev 6-7(7) 7-6(2) 6-3 6-4 in the final on Sunday to claim his fifth Grand Slam crown and extend his dominance over the German to 10 straight victories. The win […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":556178,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-556166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n