Jannik Sinner is the last man standing at the All-England Club once again.
The Italian absorbed the very best Alexander Zverev had to give for three hours and 48 minutes but had all the answers in the end. Here’s how Sinner prevailed over Zverev after losing the first set.
Before mounting comeback, Sinner stepped forward—literally
For the better part of two sets, Sinner had no answers for Zverev’s serve. The German painted the lines out wide and down the line with ease at 130-plus mph, flummoxing the Italian’s normally stout return game. Sinner began the match standing close to the baseline on returns, a strategy the German answered by going big even on his second serves.
So as the first set went on, Sinner began to gradually step further and further back on the baseline, particularly on those high, kick serves Zverev dialed up, to no avail. But in the tiebreak, he took a step in again and began getting his serve returns deeper into the court, putting the German off balance.
The Italian, repeatedly fist pumping towards his box throughout and showing some rare emotion, started to more closely resemble the player who had blitzed through the draw after a first-round scare, as he, not Zverev, became the aggressor on more points.
And it was a tweak to his court positioning that kickstarted it all.
Sinner’s first serve came to play
Sinner connected on just 65% of his first serves and won only 73% of his first serve points in the first set. Given the way Zverev was serving, Sinner’s meager service games were just enough to earn holds, but not enough to get any sort of stable grip on the match, which the German controlled on the baseline for much of the first set.
But the tide began to turn in the second set tiebreak and spilled into the third set, which was a Sinner masterclass in terms of the serve and forehand combo. Sinner ratcheted things up to the tune of 72% of his first serves in and 81% of points won on his first serve—and you could feel the difference on the points compared to the first set. Sinner attacked the forehand-to-forehand exchanges more often—which were competitive thanks to Zverev’s renewed confidence with his own forehand—and this time, came out victorious on many of them as the errors began to pile up on the German’s side.
Sinner has now won 87 straight service games vs. Zverev and his line-painting serve and devastating forehand showed why on Sunday.
Unbelievable defense and counterpunching
While going on the attack more frequently is ultimately what won Sinner this match, it was his world-class defensive skills that turned up the pressure on Zverev and, frustratingly, forced him to play perfect tennis simply to win a point.
There was no better example of this than in the third set with Zverev on serve down 3-4 and facing a break point. The two traded shots from the baseline with Sinner sliding side-to-side. Sinner at one point took a fall to the court after stretching out wide on the baseline, bounced right back up and still managed to fire a backhand that Zverev returned long to give the Italian the break and a 5-3 lead in the third set.
The German’s frustration was evident, as he smashed his racket in anger. Even in the fourth set, when Zverev threw the kitchen sink at Sinner as he served for the championship, the Italian’s speed and unbelievable ability to attack while on the defensive shone through and were ultimately too much for Zverev.
Give credit to Zverev, who played arguably the best tennis he’s ever had vs. Sinner, an opponent who had beaten him nine straight times entering Sunday. But when Sinner was pushed, he had an answer and on Sunday he fully demonstrated why he’s the world No. 1.
