JANNIK SINNER has declared his best tennis is still ahead after dethroning Carlos Alcaraz to win his maiden Wimbledon title. The Italian world number one overcame his Spanish rival 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in a gripping final, avenging his French Open defeat last month.
Sinner’s victory ended Alcaraz’s two-year reign at the All England Club and marked his fourth Grand Slam triumph. The 23-year-old has now reached the last four major finals, winning three, but insists he is far from peaking.
“I don’t think I’m at my best because at 23 I don’t think you can be in your best shape ever. So hopefully I can keep improving,“ Sinner said. “I keep looking up to Carlos because even today I felt like he was doing couple of things better than I did.”
The win carried extra significance for Sinner, who had lost five straight matches against Alcaraz before Sunday’s breakthrough. Their rivalry has dominated men’s tennis, with the pair sharing the last seven Grand Slam titles between them.
Sinner admitted the mental challenge of bouncing back from his Roland Garros collapse, where he squandered a two-set lead and three championship points against Alcaraz, had been immense.
“This is the part where I’m the proudest because it really has not been easy,“ he said. “Only me and the people who are close to me know exactly what we have been through on and off the court.”
Coach Darren Cahill believes the Sinner-Alcaraz duel could define the next decade of tennis, though cautioned against premature comparisons to the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era.
“It’s difficult to compare this rivalry to what we’ve just had. It’s been a golden age in tennis with Novak and Roger and Rafa,“ Cahill said. “These guys still have a ways to go, but they’ve started incredibly well.”-AFP
