It is easy to have too-high expectations for a Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz match, especially one that happens to be the final at Wimbledon. But the two players have set us up for high drama with their tight and extremely well-played matches. They have elevated each other, and the sport of tennis along with it.
No matter what happened in the final in London, tennis fans understand that they are going to need to get used to Sinner and Alcaraz finals. We want Alcaraz to be the new Rafael Nadal and Jannik Sinner to be the new Roger Federer. In truth, Alcaraz's approach is much more like Federer's, and Sinner's is more like Nadal's.
But Alcaraz and Sinner aren't like anyone else, either. That's what makes them special. On a hot and sunny afternoon at Wimbledon, one player was going to have to prove they were a bit more special than the other.
Jannik Sinner bests Carlos Alcaraz at Wimbledon in tennis's greatest current rivalry
In the first set, Sinner got a break at 2-all and held serve to take a 4-2 lead. In many matches, the first-set outcome might have been decided. We have learned not to expect anything in a Sinner versus Alcaraz match.
Alcaraz got the break back at 3-4 and then held. Sinner appeared to suddenly be having issues making his first serve, and Alcaraz had a couple of break points. On the second, after an extended rally that saw each player hit sharp angles, Alcaraz hit a forehand that Sinner chased down, hit a forehand down the line, and Alcaraz somehow got to the ball and hit a soft shot just over the net, which got Alcaraz a 6-4 set win.
The second set saw Sinner get an early break and needed to serve out to even the match. He couldn't do that in the first set, however, so one might have expected him not to do the same in set two. Instead, he kept fighting off Alcaraz, and to end the second set, Sinner hit the kind of miraculous shot that Alcaraz ended the first set with.
Two sets in, and tennis fans were getting what they wanted: A match between the two best players on the ATP tour playing well. Yet, not quite at their best. Each was still missing too many first serves, and one might have wondered if the match might be determined by that inefficiency.
The third set echoed the second set, but only Sinner got the break a bit later. The Italian was also serving better, getting six of his seven aces through three sets in the set. Neither player had dropped in form, though, and many games were tight, but Sinner took the set 6-4.
As all tennis fans know, though, we had seen Sinner take a lead in a major final before against Alcaraz, and the outcome was different. Sinner wasn't just playing against the Spaniard in the Wimbledon final, though. He was facing him, knowing he had lost his last five matches against the ATP No. 2. Even though Sinner led two sets to one, a fifth set would have been logically expected.
In the fourth set, Sinner got another early break of Alcaraz. At 4-3, the Italian had two break points against him but fought back to take the game, and then Alcaraz held. Sinner then got three straight points on his serve to lead 40-love. A collapse at this point would have been career-defining for Sinner. He wouldn't. He hit a huge serve that Alcaraz barely got a racket on and took the set 6-4.
Alcaraz finished with 15 aces and seven costly double faults, while Sinner was a more efficient eight and two, respectively. In the end, Sinner also had more winners (40) and unforced errors (40) than his counterpart (38 and 36, respectively), but that was due to the Italian's more aggressive approach.
The victory would have Alcaraz's sixth in a row over his generational rival. Instead, Jannik Sinner now has four Grand Slam titles and knows he can beat Carlos Alcaraz in a major final. Most likely, Sinner and Alcaraz will probably each have well more than 10 major titles by the time their careers are done.