Jannik Sinner Defends Wimbledon Title as World No. 1 Claims Back-to-Back Crown

World No. 1 Jannik Sinner has reaffirmed his place at the summit of Wimbledon.

The reigning champion held off French Open winner Alexander Zverev in a demanding final, 6-7(7), 7-6(2), 6-3, 6-4, securing back-to-back titles on the All England Club grass and the fifth Grand Slam trophy of his career. Sinner, 24, has now defeated Zverev in 10 consecutive meetings, though his run of 14 straight sets won against the German ended with the opening-set tiebreak.

After overpowering 24-time major champion Novak Djokovic in the semifinals, Sinner completed the job in the final and earned roughly $4.8 million for the championship. Zverev, meanwhile, leaves London with a runner-up prize of about $2.4 million.

Zverev, 29, was attempting to claim a second consecutive Grand Slam title, but the defeat dropped him to 1-4 in major finals and 0-7 against world No. 1 players at Grand Slam tournaments.

Serving for the title at 5-4 in the fourth set, Sinner produced a superb crosscourt backhand winner in response to a Zverev drop shot, bringing up championship point.

Moments later, he sealed the match with a thunderous forehand winner down the line, falling flat on his back in celebration before walking to the net to embrace Zverev.

The Wimbledon win is the latest for Sinner during a dominant season in which he won five straight ATP Masters 1000 titles – two on hardcourts and three on clay – to start the year. He stumbled in the second round at Roland Garros due to a bout of cramps, but righted himself on the grass and defended his crown.

“Amazing. But as Sasha did I’d like to start with you and your whole team and family,” Sinner said on court.

“You reached one of your goals, winning a Grand Slam. You made it happen in Paris. Today you were so so close. If you play like this I’m very, very sure you’re gonna have this one at home also. Amazing. Keep going. I know the goal for you is to become world No. 1. You’re very very close. We have to be very careful now, but congrats”

In December 2021, Zverev proclaimed himself part of a “New Big 3” along with Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev. This came as Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal were close to retiring, and Djokovic began to age, but Patrick McEnroe floated the idea that Zverev maybe didn’t work as hard as he could have in his early 20s because he just assumed he would ultimately win majors once those giants left the stage.

“I think there was too much confidence that it would just happen, over-confidence,” Patrick McEnroe said.

Still, Zverev has now proven he can win majors and challenge the world No. 1.

“Winning that French, what a difference a month makes, a tournament,” John McEnroe said on air.

“He could win three or four more now if he keeps up at this level,” McEnroe later added.’

In the first set tiebreak, the two men exchanged huge serves – ‘This is like Sampras vs. Ivanisovic, times two,” John McEnroe said on air.

With Sinner serving at 7-8, Zverev ended it by ripping a massive forehand winner up the line to snap a 14-set losing streak against Sinner.

In the second set breaker, Sinner got an early mini-break and raced out to a 3-0 lead.

Determined to even the match, Sinner then broke Zverev for 6-2 in the breaker with a forehand winner up the line. He evened it at a set apiece when Zverev sailed a backhand wide on set point.

At 3-all in the third set, with Sinner facing a break point, Zverev fell behind the baseline and clutched his knee. Sinner walked to the other side of the net to help him up, and Zverev appeared to OK afterward.

Sinner then broke Zverev for 5-3 when the German sailed a forehand deep on break point. Zverev missed four first serves in a row to close the game.

Sinner closed out the set at love on his serve, cranking an ace up the T on set point.

With Zverev serving at 3-all in the fourth set, Sinner crushed a massive forehand winner up the line to break for 4-3 and then pumped his fist towards his box.

“Yeah, first of all Jannik. I don’t really like you anymore,” Zverev said on court. “I lost to you nine times in a row. Congratulations to Jannik. He showed once again why he’s the best player in the world. It was great to share Centre court with you on finals weekend. It’s a great honor to be here. Unfortunately it didn’t go my way, but congratulations first of all.

“Also congrats to Jannik’s team. You guys have been together for many many years now. You guys are world No. 1 now but you started outside of the top 10 and worked your way into being grand slam champions and world No. 1. It’s definitely a team effort. Jannik is the first one to admit it. Congratulations to you guys. You really deserve it.”