Alexander Zverev has heard the noise for years about never quite getting over the hump at the majors, and for a set and a half at Wimbledon on Sunday he looked like the guy who was finally going to shut everyone up. He came out swinging, took the fight to Sinner early, and had Centre Court buzzing in a way these finals don't always deliver.
Razor tight 1st set followed by a perfect serving tiebreak. Zverev aggression pays off with the winner. What a start
That first-set tiebreak set the tone for a match that tennis diehards were buzzing about in real time. This wasn't a rock-fight or a quick beatdown, it was two guys playing genuinely great tennis, which is why casual fans who don't normally tune into tennis were getting pulled in too.
Tennis is an underrated watch. Sinner & Zverev is incredible right now..
Sinner clawed his way back in a second-set tiebreak of his own, and from there the match settled into the kind of high-level slugfest that made it clear a title was on the line and neither guy was blinking first. According to the ATP Tour's own recap, Sinner ultimately closed it out 6-7(7), 7-6(2), 6-3, 6-4 to successfully defend his title and pick up his 5th Grand Slam trophy, denying Zverev's bid to become the first man in the Open Era to follow up a maiden major with another at the very next Slam.
Zverev Sinner is so good. Serving masterclass. Sinner was locked in on that tiebreak, refused to go down another set. Best of 3 now for the title
There was also a running gripe about how a match this good wasn't getting the highlight treatment it deserved, with complaints that Wimbledon's own social team and the bigger sports outlets were sitting on their hands while a genuine classic played out. A 2.5-plus hour war between the top-ranked guy and a first-time finalist should be trending everywhere, and fans noticed it wasn't.
Of course, Wimbledon's cameras always find time for the celebrity box, and this final was no different, with crowd shots doing their usual double duty as a red carpet. Between points, the broadcast made sure to cut to the famous faces courtside.
Nicole Kidman and Anna Wintour at Wimbledon this weekend 🎾
In the end the tennis won out over the sideshow. Zverev threw everything he had at a guy who's now won 5 majors and is playing the best tennis of anyone not named Carlos Alcaraz, and it still wasn't enough. The sport is better with Alcaraz in these finals too, and with the US Open on the horizon, the hope among fans is that the two best players in the world are both healthy and in the building when it matters most.