Jannik Sinner has been hailed as the ‘new Novak Djokovic’ after retaining his Wimbledon title with an impressive win over Alexander Zverev.
Sinner became only the tenth man in history to win back-to-back Wimbledon titles with a 6-7 7-6 6-3 6-4 victory over new world number two Zverev.
Zverev came into his first Wimbledon final in confident mood having won his maiden Grand Slam at the French Open last month and dropping just two sets at the All England Club.
That run included a straight-set win over British wildcard Arthur Fery but Zverev had far less success against world number one Sinner despite taking the first set through a tie-break.
The outcome may have been different had Zverev won the second tie-break but Sinner’s class told at that point and the Italian did not look back after levelling the match.
Sinner, who turns 25 next month, now has two Wimbledon titles and five Grand Slams in total, with the French Open the only major missing from his collection.
‘By winning today, Jannik is getting his 100th win at Grand Slam level,’ former Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli said on BBC Radio 5 Live.
‘I think we have seen the new Novak for the next 10-15 years. The way he is able to weather the storm when he had to, come up with an extraordinary shot when he had to, it reminds me so much of Novak Djokovic.’
Former British number one Tim Henman added on Sinner’s performance: ‘A worthy champion, an incredible defence of his title. As the great players do, they find the way to get the win.
‘Sinner has got better and better as he’s gone on through this tournament. His performance in the semi-final against Djokovic and today have been truly world class.’
Remarkably, Sinner’s serve did not get broken in either the final against Zverev or his semi-final win over 24-time Grand Slam champion and seven-time Wimbledon winner Djokovic.
Zverev, who has now lost ten games in a row to Sinner, said in his on-court interview: ‘First of all, Jannik, I don’t really like you any more!
‘But he showed once again why he is the best player in the world. It was great to share the Centre Court with you on finals weekend. A great honour to be here. It didn’t go my way but congratulations to you first of all.
‘Also in relation to Jannik’s team, who have been with him for many years now. You are number one now but you were outside the top 10 when you started and you are all the way to being Grand Slam champions and world number one.
‘It is a team effort, Jannik will be first to admit it, so congratulations to you as well.
‘To my team, we had pretty good two months I would say, even though we lost this final.
‘We had an amazing two months and we came into Wimbledon having never reached the quarter-final, and we reached a first final.
‘At 29, this is the first time I believed I could win this trophy, so thank you to you guys as well.’
Sinner was determined to take advantage of his rival Carlos Alcaraz’s absence after the Spaniard was ruled out of Wimbledon due to a wrist injury.
‘This feels amazing,’ Sinner said before paying tribute to Wimbledon finalist Zverev.
‘Sascha, I would like to start with you and your whole team and family. You reached one of your main goals; winning Grand Slams. You made it happen in Paris.
‘Today you were so, so close. If you keep playing like this I’m sure you’re going to have this one at home as well. So amazing, keep going.
‘I know another goal is for you to become number one in the world. You are very close. I have to be very careful now! But congrats.’
On winning back-to-back titles at the All England Club, Sinner added: ‘We prepared in the best possible way me and my team. I have to thank the whole team, the whole support I get from the whole box.
‘I’m very happy about the win but mostly very happy also about the level we played. You [the crowd] are the reasons. There is no better place to play tennis.’
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