Jannik Sinner def Carlos Alcaraz, Sinner-Alcaraz rivalry compared to Big 4, can anyone stop tennis’ two biggest superstars, analysis

Jannik Sinner sat on his haunches, his head resting on his racquet, his body shuddering as though sobbing on the most famous stage in tennis.

This was the moment the Wimbledon champion banished the demons that had made this season the greatest challenge of his career.

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From defending a grand slam for the first time at the Australian Open, to being sidelined for three months for a doping breach he was deemed not responsible for, to having a Roland Garros title wrenched from his hands, to suggest Sinner had endured an emotional roller coaster is an understatement.

Yet there he stood, having just ended several winning streaks of Carlos Alcaraz. Just moments earlier an enraptured crowd roared the Spaniard’s name when wanting a thrilling decider to extend to five sets. But Sinner held his nerve to become the Wimbledon champion.

It was a magnificent achievement. An extraordinary one, in fact, and not least because Sinner is the first Italian to win a Wimbledon singles title. Given the circumstances of his season, to be able to challenge for a major is extraordinary. Then he let himself go.

“It feels emotional because only me and the people who are close to me know exactly what we have been through on and off the court, and it has been everything except easy,” he said.

The 23-year-old is now the holder of four grand slam titles, having ended a four match losing streak against Alcaraz when triumphant 4-6 6-4 6-4 6-4 in a high-octane decider at Wimbledon that lasted just over three hours.

He reaffirms his status as the world’s best player and, bar for Alcaraz surviving three match points to win their epic in Paris last month, Sinner would have completed a non-calendar year grand slam with this success. That is incredible to consider.

Sinner’s coach Darren Cahill remains stunned at how well the world No.1 responded from the despair of Paris. Losses of the nature experienced by the superstar have left top guns reeling for months.

Alexander Zverev has not been the same player since losing to Sinner in the Australian Open final. Even Alcaraz is familiar with the sensation, saying a narrow loss to Novak Djokovic in the gold medal playoff in Paris last year deflated him for a decent period.

Rather than spiral downwards, Cahill and the rest of the Sinner team urged him to look at the result with balance, something that is surely easier said than done given the significance of the moment and the opportunity that went begging.

He ducked away to spend time with his family and, when he returned, was beaten in Germany by Alexander Bublik, the Kazakhstan talent who can run red-hot or icy cold.

Sinner had a stroke of luck when Grigor Dimitrov retired in their fourth round match, but to be in the position to challenge amazed Cahill. He cannot really fathom how he pulled himself together to overcome the setbacks he has endured this year.

“That’s a really good question and a question that we’ll have trouble answering, because I wouldn’t have coped,” Cahill said.

“I think for most normal athletes that get into that position and have 0-40, 5-3 in the fourth set, (with) match points to win Roland Garros, and certainly his year has been — I don’t know the right word to sum it up — but it’s been challenging for everybody involved.

“Then to put himself in that position and miss out on it, it’s a quality that he has as a person, and I put that back again, I speak about his parents all the time and … his grounded upbringing and the way he treats the people around him.

“He’s a good, young fellow (who) always has a smile on his face. The person that you see on the tennis court, this focus, this attention to detail, is not the same guy off the court.

“He’s a fun-loving guy who is joking around all the time that just loves the company of the people around him. He’s cooking. He’s messing up stuff. He’s making mistakes all over the place. We’re laughing about it.”

Sinner certainly made few mistakes in the final. And while Alcaraz took his first defeat in a grand slam with customary good grace, he was not laughing at the bullying he received at times in the final as the 23-year-old succeeded in pushing him off the baseline with his power.

But the Spaniard was not surprised by the response from his chief rival because he is aware Sinner is a champion. A four-time major champion, in fact.

“Not at all. He didn’t surprise me at all because I know he’s a really nice player and a huge champion. Champions learn from that — I’m not going to say fearless — but they learn from the losses,” Alcaraz said.

“I knew at the beginning that he was going to learn from that final (and) not going to make the same mistakes as they did in the French Open final.

“The way he played today, it was really, really high. I didn’t surprise (me) at all. I knew he was going to play like this. So it was about some details. Overall he didn’t surprise me at all, because I know he’s a big champion.”

There will be some who will view Sinner with suspicion given the three-month ban he received as a result of the positive tests he recorded at Indian Wells in March, 2024. Off the cuff criticisms are easy to make. But reading the findings is always worthwhile in these matters.

Nonetheless, the ban had the potential to derail Sinner, whose results after the positive tests have been even better than they were leading into that Indian Wells, though admittedly they were extremely good even then.

He defeated Dimitrov to win the Miami Masters. He failed to win on clay last year, but posted good results culminating in a five set loss to Alcaraz in a semi-final in Paris. He won Halle on grass. Sinner then went back-to-back in the Cincinnati Masters and US Open.

Alcaraz got him again in Beijing in the decider but the champion rebounded to defeat Djokovic in the Shanghai Masters final in the midst of a 20-match streak that saw him clinch the ATP Tour finals, go unbeaten in the Davis Cup and then defend the Australian Open.

Sinner went to hell and back before resolving that the devil in front — a three month ban — was better than the unknown, although he might very well have been completely cleared. He was able to retain his fitness, but three months away is difficult for any athlete.

Alcaraz smashed him in the Rome final and then edged him at Roland Garros before the Bublik blip. But those demons? They are banished now.

“I would have not believed (it), no, because it’s so difficult already to arrive to the latter stages of grand slams. Even if you’re in great shape and you have the best preparation ever, it’s so difficult,” Sinner said.

“Standing here as a finalist in Roland Garros, and when that moment was over, I felt like I did something great because it has been not easy. Coming here and winning Wimbledon, it has been amazing, no?

“But in the same time, I tried to believe in myself and to accept whatever happens. There is only one way … to get better as a player. This hopefully, if you do that, (enhances) the chances that you win matches. It’s higher because you put your effort in, daily effort. This is exactly what we did. From now on we’re going to do it even more because there are players who are going to come. You have to be prepared.”

Sinner believes he now has a target on his head. But truth be told, that was already the case. Sinner has been the dominant No.1 for an extended period now, even if he and Alcaraz have shared the past seven grand slam titles.

His coaches are preparing him for the challenges to come, despite his exceptional record over the past two years.

“I would say that we are preparing him for the field, not just for one player. Because if you prepare somebody for just one player, then other players are going to sneak up on you and cause you massive problems,” Cahill said.

“There’s so many variations of styles of play today. The way he played against Carlos today is not going to work against Ben Shelton and won’t work against Alexander Zverev. So you need to prepare a player to deal with all sorts of possibilities.

“But Carlos is a big focus, and both of those guys are pushing each other. I would say that Jannik watches more Carlos matches than he does anybody else because he’s fascinated with the improvements that are coming in his game, and he’s pushing us as coaches to make sure that he’s improving also as a tennis player as well. So the rivalry is real. It’s there. And hopefully it’s going to be there and real for the next 10 or 12 years.”

John McEnroe compiled the best ever win-loss record in a season when going 82-3, with Wimbledon and US Open successes in 1983.

Jimmy Conners (1974), Roger Federer (2005 and 2006) and Novak Djokovic (2015) are players to win at least 90 percent of their matches in a season on the men’s circuit. Sinner is batting above 90 per cent for the past 52 weeks at 57-5.

Having come off a golden era for men’s tennis given the exploits of the Big Four, Alcaraz and Sinner have picked up the reins and are arguably taking tennis to even greater heights in terms of the tennis they are producing. It is breathtaking to watch.

Alcaraz believes the pair will drive each other to get “better and better” and that no-one can reach the level they produce in their matches.

Cahill, the Australian master who has coached Sinner, Lleyton Hewitt, Andre Agassi and Simona Halep to the No.1 ranking and to grand slams, urges caution. Sinner, after all, hurt his elbow during Wimbledon. Alcaraz has had some downs as well as the extreme highs.

“The rivalry I think is amazing already, and I think it can get better with both these players pushing each other,” he said.

“I do think there’s some other younger players coming through that will punch their way through the door, so it won’t just be a two-man show. There will be other players, which we look forward to as well and are excited about.

“But 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 and Andy. They dominated for 20 years. Incredibly selfish, they won all those Grand Slams. To win a Grand Slam back in those days, you had to beat one of them in the quarters, the other one in the semis, and another one in the final.

“These guys still have a ways to go, but they’ve started incredibly well. I have fingers crossed that they’re going to have a great 10 or 15 years to go, and they’ll have some more amazing matches. But I’m not going to compare them just yet to what we’ve just seen.”

The quartet shared 69 grand slams between them. Sinner and Alcaraz have shared nine. Rivals may emerge. But for now, tennis has unearthed another great rivalry. And while the Spaniard leads it 8-5 in matches, and 5-4 in majors, Sinner is the man to beat.