Key events
*Sinner 4-6 6-4 3-3 Alcaraz After another partly-forced error gives Alcaraz 15-all, an ace restores Sinner’s advantage … but he then bangs a forehand wide, upping the tension at 30-all. Then, at 40-30, the Italian finds himself caught at net after picking Alcaraz’s side with a putaway; he responds with a tweener, up goes the lob … and he clouts his overhead unnecessarily hard and wide. That, mates, is pressure, doing too much to make sure … so Sinner gathers and, I short order, closes out his hold. The standard remains variable, the intensity stratospheric.
Sinner 4-6 6-4 2-3 Alcaraz* A longer rally to open the game, Sinner netting a forehand for 0-15. But a drop into the net suggests Alcaraz is struggling for clarity as he sometimes he does; a forehand that falls wide for 30-all does too. Chance for Sinner, who then gets great depth on return … only to go long from the back when well in the rally. That’s a missed opportunity, though it’s worth noting that the athleticism and presence of Alcaraz on the other side of the net can make what, against anyone else, would be an unforced error, into one that’s partially forced. From there, the champ closes out, and it feels like the next few games will decide this match. If Sinner takes the set, he’s favourite; if Alcaraz does, you’d not bet on him losing two on the spin with the title at stake.
*Sinner 4-6 6-4 2-2 Alcaraz An unreturned serve makes 15-0 and Sinner shakes racket at his box – he believes he can do this, and knows how important this set is. From there, he closes out a love hold, removing the pressure from himself and placing it upon Alcaraz in little more than a minute.
Sinner 4-6 6-4 1-2 Alcaraz* A forehand cross, hit flat and wide, again turns Alcaraz’s strength against him – he wants to be hitting his own forehand from the middle, not from out in the stands. But though the champ soon makes 30-15, a backhand drops long for 30-all, and this feels like Sinner’s chance: he needs to cash in when in the ascendancy. But in this game, he cannot, Alcaraz securing his hold, and this match continues to stutter, of far lower standard than the final in Paris. But fear not, friends – we’ve time.
*Sinner 4-6 6-4 1-1 Alcaraz If Alcaraz wins this set, you’ll fancy him to close it out; if Sinner does, you still might, which would make no difference to anything save for the fact the players will probably understand things in the same way. My sense is that it’s Sinner currently playing the better tennis, and he secures an impressive hold to 15, sealed with an ace then a terrifying forehand winner.
Sinner 4-6 6-4 0-1 Alcaraz* Unusually for players this insanely driven and talented, we’re not getting periods of one in the ascendancy, we’re getting points. Which makes it so difficult to predict what’s going to happen next, but why would we even want to when we can just enjoy? Meantime, Alcaraz – who, let’s not forget was broken in the first game of set two, perhaps losing focus after the relief of winning it – finds himself down 0-30, and he’ll be fearing a repeat performance. All the more so when, at 15-30, he sends down a tame double … then saves break point no 1 with an ace down the T … and no 2 when a Sinner forehand goes long; the Italian will be disappointed he didn’t make more of the second serve offered him. From there, Alcaraz serves out the game, putting an exclamation mark on things with an ace; can he parlay his opponent’s disappointment into something more tangible?
Jannik Sinner wins the second set 6-4 to level the match at 1-1
*Sinner 4-6 6-4 Alcaraz This is a proper test of nerve for Sinner, and we can be sure Alcaraz will look to exploit that by making him play. But just as it looks like the first point of the game is his, a backhand down the line forcing Sinner to stretch eveything just to get the ball back, the follow-up drop, when a whack into space would do,and allows the Italian to charge in and flick back a winner; fantastic behaviour. And though we’re soon at 15-all, Sinner goes wide on the second serve then finds the thump he needs to force it home, and when Alcaraz turns up the volume with a forehand to the corner, Sinner responds with an absolute humdinger, cleansed hard and flat down the line! That is wondrous, but on 40-15 he’s sent nashing off to the sideline … only to conjure a table-tennis winner cross-court to break the sideline! That is absolutely absurd conduct from Sinner; he didn’t take that set, he seized it.
Sinner 4-6 5-4 Alcaraz* A high-kicker out wide … and ace. Alcaraz has so much variety on serve, so much that so another of the same genre, but on second delivery, also leaps away from Sinner for an ace. And though, at 40-0, a drop can’t quite clamber over the tape, another ace, sent jumping out wide, forces the Italian to serve for the set. If he can manage it, he’s in business; if he cannot, you’ll fear for him.
*Sinner 4-6 5-3 Alcaraz A love hold for Sinner, and he’s a game away from the second set.
Sinner 4-6 4-3 Alcaraz* Alcaraz is holding the easier now, but at 40-0 a poor drop allows Sinner in to feed a backhand pass into the corner. And when another ball catches the line expectedly, he forces the error for 40-30 and a double brings us to deuce. If this is Alcaraz losing concentration, as sometimes he does, this is Sinner’s cue to jump on him, and when a double donates advantage he has a chance to near-enough secure the second set … only to net a backhand return when handed a second serve. And from there, an ace and a service winner box off the game; if the Italian wants to level the match, he’ll have to do it himself, parity won’t be presented to him.
*Sinner 4-6 4-2 Alcaraz A drop into the net hands Sinner 15-0, but at 15-all he runs around his backhand only to drop long. He does, though, soon make 30-all, a service winner raises game point, and a felicitous net cord turns a poor shot into a winner. The apology is moving in its sincerity.
“Since you’re asking,” says Richard Hirst, “1969, a free concert in Parliament Hill Fields, with Soft Machine, Procul Harum, Yes (before even their first album) and others. Also the summer I went to Wimbledon (note the impressive linking) for the one and only time: Centre Court to see Pancho Gonzalez against Charlie Pasarell in what was at the time the longest match at Wimbledon.”
My school sports day was there, the teachers grassed me to my parents for enjoying a Dunhill International in the bushes.
Sinner 4-6 3-2 Alcaraz* Words we’ve not required for a while: a love hold. Alcaraz isn’t playing especially well, but if the match is a longun, you get the sense he will at some point and in the meantime, he leads.
*Sinner 4-6 3-1 Alcaraz There were signs of improvement but for now, it remains the case that neither man is at it, Sinner dominating a point before netting his putaway for 30-all; pressure. Alcaraz, though, relieves it for him by hitting long … but Sinner then butchers a forehand with the point all but won and ewe move to deuce. A break-back here would mean more than itself, the champ reminding the challenger that he can take him when not at his best, but Sinner makes advantage, after which a pause; “Please do not pop a champagne cork just as the players are preparing to serve,” intones the umpire as one lands on the court; it reminds me of the time I asked a friend “please don’t be sick on my computer” in terms of things you never think you’ll have to say. Anyway, though Alcaraz restores deuce, from there Sinner’s serve takes over, and he remains in command of set two.
Sinner 4-6 2-1 Alcaraz* So far, this match is more about unforced errors than brilliant shots; both players are some way off their best. Which is the time Sinner, as the man whose brilliant best is slightly less brilliant, needs to take advantage … and he makes 0-30, only to then lose a net exchange and botch a pass; 30-all. From there, Alcaraz holds courtesy of two gigantic serves, doing enough to stay in touch in the set.
*Sinner 4-6 2-0 Alcaraz Have a look! At 15-all, Alcaraz breaks the wrists on a backhand as Sinner comes in, spiriting a winner cross-court; slowly, we might be hitting levels. As I type, though, at 30-all Sinner tries a wrong-footing backhand with plenty of space to hit, but looking for precision, he strays wide and must now face break-back point; he saves it via service winner and closes out from there, punching the air in celebration. He knows how important that was, for his state of mind as much as for the score.
Sinner 4-6 1-0 Alcaraz* Sinner will be feeling very, very poorly, his gizzard leaping and stomping through his throat. But he quickly makes 0-30, an error from Alcaraz hands him 0-40, and these are crucial moments coming up – if Sinner can’t break, the hit to his confidence will feel immense, the champ allowing him a start then upping it beyond his reach when it becomes a problem. And Alcaraz saves the first, then the second when Sinner again slips in pursuit of a drop. But the Italian then goes after a 140mph serve, delivering a far better return than seemed possible and, into the rally, his opponent falters first, looping a forehand long. My days, Sinner needed that.
Carlos Alcaraz wins the first set against Jannik Sinner 6-4
*Sinner 4-6 Alcaraz Between games, we’re encouraged to turn the sound up and just listen to purity of the ball-striking; it’s a gorgeous, hollow, percussive zing-thump. But Sinner then overhits a backhand … only for Alcaraz to do likewise, just. Right decision, imperfect execution. A service winner follows, making 30-15, but then coming in for a simple +1, Sinner hesitates, perhaps not expecting the ball to come back, and he loops a terrible effort long; the champ is two points away from the first set. And when Sinner slips trying to push off in search of a beautifully-disguised drop, the ball is tapped into the space and, at 30-40, he’s set-point down. Can he respond? Er, just about, a body second-serve cramping Alcaraz, who nets a ball you nevertheless expect him to make; to deuce we go … whereupon a double donates advantage, the challenger faltering at the crucial moment. But he plays a fantastic next point, dominating from the back, and though Alcaraz switches momentum with a forehand hooked to the corner, the response, down the line into the space, is decisive … NO IT IS NOT! Somehow, the ludicrous magician stretches, hangs out a racket, and controls what I suppose we must call a drop, zonimg over the net to secure the first set in a moment of magic so symbolic it feels made up. Alcaraz holds a hand to his ear, the crowd go wild, and it’ll take something to come back from that. How is he even real?
Sinner 4-5 Alcaraz* Sinner marches in to dispatch a forehand winner for 15-all; again, he is not waiting to be asked, and the first double of the match ups the tension. But down 15-30, Alcaraz finds a service winner, nails his next delivery out wide then cleans up at net, and an ace seals a crucial hold. Again, Alcaraz does what he needs when he really needs to do it, and if he can get a few returns in or a look at a second delivery or two, he’ll put Sinner under some pressure as he serves to stay in the set.
*Sinner 4-4 Alcaraz Alcaraz is struggling to make an impression on return, Sinner’s targeting of his forehand taking the backhand slice – which sets up so many of his best plays – out of the equation. At 15-0, a drop is followed by a gorgeous volley which levels the game, then we have the kind of rally of which we’ve not yet seen much but expect to see plenty, thrashing from the back until Sinner errs with the 18th stroke of the exchange; at 15-30, the chance has a sniff and when a backhand drops long, he has two chances to break back. And he only needs one, Sinner slapping a backhand into the net, and he’ll be really disappointed with how easily he ceded the advantage.
Sinner 4-3 Alcaraz* Up 15-0, Alcaraz overhits a forehand, but a service-winner restores his advantage in the game, then he plays perhaps his best point so far twice running around his forehand to punish shots to the corner. And though the drop with which he seeks to finish the next rally sits up, Sinner sends his pick-up wide, so the gap is back down to one… but can Alcaraz find a break back?
*Sinner 4-2 Alcaraz You get the sense that Sinner, though he knows he can be caught, will have to win this from the front. He quickly makes 30-0, but then slaps a forehand cross wide; he looks to be targeting Alcaraz’s forehand, looking to turn the strength against him by putting it under pressure and deciding when it should be in the game. But another error means we’re at 30-all, and these are key points coming up; Sinner takers the first by doling out an industrial helping of own medicine, a drop hauling Alcaraz to net, and though the get is great – he’s so, so quick to anticipate and to move – the volley is well despatched, an ace follows, and the break is endorsed.
“Like Joe Pearson,” begins Rob Lewis, “I also saw the band Spirit at about the same time, but at Kingston University (then Kingston Poly). They were led by the amazingly named Randy California, later to be drowned and supposedly eaten by a mudshark when saving his 12-year-old son in Hawaii.”
Sinner 3-2 Alcaraz* More like it. Sinner nails a backhand on to the sideline, securing the first 0-15 of the match with a deft volley. Then, at 15-all, Sinner comes in when a ball lands short … only to find himself stranded by an excellent backhand pass down the line. But his aggression continues; he again comes in off a short ball to make 40-30, and we wind up at deuce then, sent wide to return, Alcaraz nets when he shouldn’t; the first break point of the final goes to Sinner, who gets a look at a second serve, lands a backhand on to the line, and Alcaraz strays long! The Italian lands the first significant striker, and we now know his gameplan: aggression.
“I was talking to Todd Woodbridge the other day,” says Coach Calv. |”He’s won the men’s doubles nine times and a mixed once. More titles (singles and doubles) there than any other man. He’s also told me won every doubles title there that a male can win, men’s, mixed, juniors and vets. Said he tried to become a member so he could win the club champs as well but they won’t let him.”
As we said earlier, sportsfolk are built differently
*Sinner 2-2 Alcaraz In comms, Tood Woodbridge reckons both players are a little early on the ball, snatching at things because they’re nervous. And that makes perfect sense – we’ve yet to see much in the way of rallies or winners, exchanges ended by errors before they’ve a chance to develop. Sinner holds to love, and we’re still in the phoney war stage.
Sinner 1-2 Alcaraz* A lovely measured forehand, coaxed inside-out into the corner, makes 15-0, an unreturned serve 30-0. Alcaraz has started the better and more confident player, but consecutive errors turn a straightforward hold into something less convincing … then a monstrous first serve secures the game.
*Sinner 1-1 Alcaraz Having elected to receive, there’s pressure on Sinner, and when he nets a backhand for 15-all, he’ll be cognisant of that. Alcaraz, though, helps him out by swatting a forehand long, and we see a shot of Andre Agassi, whose commentary so enriched his semi with Fritz. Sinner then nails an ace for 40-15, but when he overhits, at 40-30 his opponent has a sniff … so his unleashes a high-kicking service-winner down the middle and we’re level at a game apiece.
The offending cardigan:
Sinner 0-1 Alcaraz* (*denotes server) Alcaraz opens up with an ace down the T and a service winner follows. Sinner then nets a backhand, goes long with another, and a love hold is secure.
First set, Carloz Alcaraz to serve. Ready … play.
Sinner won the toss and, as Alcaraz tends to do so perhaps because Alcaraz tends to do, he opts to receive.
“Since you brought it up,” begins Joe Pearson, “my first concert was 54 years ago. It was Spirit supported by Rastus. Spirit was touring the classic ‘Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus’, but I mainly went to see Rastus, a horn band in the mould of Chicago, but cooler, and quite popular at the time throughout the Midwest.”
Ambrose and the players pose for photos, then they pose just the two of them, and this is one of the fiercest friendly rivalries I’ve ever seen, needle completely absent.
Ah this is lovely. Ambrose Caldecott, an 11-year-old boy with bone cancer, comes out to a rapturous reception and will take charge of the coin toss. Godspeed, old mate.
Our players move through the clubhouse, past the portraits, down the stairs, past the portraits. The enormity of the situation is inescapable and Sinner tries to force a smile across his face, reminding himself he’s just a bloke doing his thing and there’s nothing unusual going on here. He stands in front, as the challenger; behind him, the champ bounces … then the doors open, the move under the Kipling quotation, and out they come! The scene is glorious.
Er, all bets are off. Carlos Alcaraz is wearing a … cardigan?
I take back everything I ever said or felt.
Both men, of course, had a match earlier in the competition that they might’ve lost – Alcaraz, playing poorly, almost lost to Fabio Fognini in round one, while, in round four, Sinner was showing no signs of coming back when two sets down to Grigor Dimitrov, only to be saved by a torn right pec. Both moved on as if nothing untoward happened, which tells us plenty about the mentalities of these two freaks of nature.
On the face of things, the music of Black Sherif has little to do with the Wimbledon men’s final. But both he and it are in the business of spreading joy and love, so please allow me to advise that, last week, I enjoyed the ridiculous privilege of watching Blacko perform live.
I went to my first gig – REM and Radiohead, now that you ask – 30 years ago this summer, and I’ve seen a bit since then, so please feel free to believe me when I say I’ve never, ever, seen a crowd respond to an act they way this one responded to that one. If there’s a better recording artist in the world, I’m not familiar with him, her or them, and if there’s been a better album this year than Iron Boy, I’ve not heard it.
But don’t take my word for any of this – here’s your Blacko starter pack, by way of definitive playlist.
Oh man, we’re nearly there. This is colossal.
It’s funny, really – we all seem to be agreed that this match-up is ridiculously close, yet do we all also seem agreed that Alcaraz will win?
Meantime, Mac tells us he still thinks about losing the 1984 French Open final to Ivan Lendl from two sets up, so it seems unlikely that Sinner has put away that which happened just last month. Iguess the question is not whether it’s on his mind now, but whether it mithers him once he’s on the court.
One thing these two have in common: Coach Calv messaged me after seeing both for the first time, saying he’d seen something special. Others of whom that is so: Francis Tiafoe, Felix Auger-Aliassime and João Fonseca; fantastic juniors don’t always train on.
“All the indicators point to Alcaraz,” reckons Gregory Phillips, “but only marginally. He has the psychological edge from his comeback at the French and the surface advantage given he’s the two-time defending champion. Sinner has the ruthless consistency, but Alcaraz has the game-changing brilliance. What a joy to get to watch this.”
What I most enjoy, or at least what I’m most enjoying this second, is the security of it: for the next decade, these boys have got us.
“Fritz was asked to compare the two after the semi-final,” writes Kerrith Britland. “He said something along the lines of Sinner is more predictable but a more consistently big ball striker, while Alcaraz has more access to angles but can go massive too.
While I think the RG loss would’ve been tough to swallow for Sinner, I don’t think he expected to do as well as he did after the three months out and against Alcaraz on his favoured surface. I reckon he wants this one bad though. With that Dimitrov bullet dodged, Sinner might think the powers that be are on his side today.
Enough from this arm-chair analyst … what’s your tactical take on this one?”
These days, Wimbledon grass isn’t that dissimilar from a hard court, and I expect Sinner to play as though that’s the case. He’ll structure poionts to get his forehand going and look to unleash it, down the line in particular whenever he can. Alcaraz, meanwhile, will hope to keep the Italian moving, forcing him to hit on the run and from outside the tramlines, while hauling him into the net whenever possible. I think Alcaraz will do it because he can make Sinner uncomfortable; I’m not sure the same is so in reverse.
“It was 1990, I think,” begins Krishnamoorthy V. “It was a double Sunday bonanza: Edberg – Becker followed by the World Cup final. We had assembled in our friend’s home. A friend who was not interested much in sports, and who had cone primarily for food and entertainment, said ‘Let anyone win so long as it is five sets’. I never understood him, till today. This is exactly how I feel.”
We learnt recently that Becker was struggling with a sleeping pill situation, which is why he lost the first two sets so convincingly – that feels unlikely today. But yup, I guess in individual sports, people – generally speaking – are less partial about who wins, and more partial about their desire to see something beautiful. We could not be in better hands.
Veronica Kudermetova and Elise Mertens (8) beats Jelena Ostapenko and Hsieh Su-wei (4) 3-6 6-2 6-4
A fantastic win in a belter of a match for the pair who only started playing together again recently. For the winners, ecstasy; for the losers, desolation.
“SinAraz or AlcaSin, says Mohammad Feroze. “SinAraz sounds like a prison and AlcaSin sounds like a medicine.”
SinCaraz?
For my part, I’d back Alcaraz on the surfaces that move underfoot – grass and clay – and Sinner on more predictable hards. But there’s so little between them that whoever plays closer to their best is likely to be the determining factor and, given his game has less about it that can go wrong, it’s tempting to fancy Sinner. But it’s hard to back Alcaraz to lose a major final when he’s won five from five; if he gets in front, he’ll be very difficult to stop, and if he’s behind, there’s always the sense he can come back.
Back to our match, Coach Calv Betton messages in wiIth his breakdown: “It’s not a tactical battle between those two, it’s ball striking. They’ll both try and hit the ball hard. There isn’t much nuance. Occasionally, they’ll both do something different to mix it up – a drop shot, a serve-volley. And someone will make out that it’s a pre-planned strategy to break the other guy down. It’s not. It will just be random and nothing’s really changed since the French Open so I don’t see it playing out differently.”
We’re scheduled to get going at 4pm, but on court currently we’ve the women’s doubles final; Ostapenko and Hsieh lead Kudermetova and Mertens 4-2 in the third.
Email! “The rivalry to rival Fedal – now we have SinAraz or AlcaSin. Hopefully these two will give us a banger of a five-setter. Too close to call but I’ve a feeling Carlos will hit the hat-trick of SW19 wins This could be emotional and physical carnage for the players and fans. Enjoy it.”
It’s funny isn’t it – these two have only played one major final against each other, yet no one could say with any certainty when there might next be one they’re not in. The difference between them and the rest is monumental, the difference between them is marginal.
Also going on:
Preamble
We all lie to ourselves all the time, inventing stories to make ourselves look better or look worse, feel better or feel worse; to explain the haphazard chaos we call life.
Sportsfolk, though, have turned this routine into an art. How else could they perform fine motor skills, under pressure and exhausted, in front of a crowd offering feedback in real time?
Consequently, when we hear Jannik Sinner say he’s over losing the French Open final, from two sets and three match-points up, we can sort of believe him. As the psychological axiom has it – an antidote to so many of the grudges, injustices and disappointments we let needlessly weigh us down – “that was then and this is now.”
But as Sinner prepares to meet Carlos Alcaraz again, are we seriously to believe the scarring has no impact? That his first Wimbledon final, facing the man who crushed his dreams in Paris, is just another match, irrelevant to anything which precedes it?
Because what to us is narrative, to Sinner is pain – and a problem to be solved. Against everyone else, he’s dominating almost all of the time; against Alcaraz, he’s lost five times in a row. If the key to stopping him isn’t to be found in their previous contests, does it even exist?
Sinner will argue the answer lies with him, not with his opponent. The margins are thin, so if he can impose his considerable strengths at the crucial moments – if he can perform those fine motor skills, under pressure and exhausted – it shouldn’t matter what his opponent does.
This is a clever way of looking at the world – we have no control over others, so all we can really do is deliver the best of ourselves and hope for the best – all the more so when confronted by an arch improvisor like Alcaraz. Often, even he won’t know what he’s going to do until he’s done it so, rather than predict him, it makes more sense to rush, hamper and crowd him.
The problem Sinner has is there’s a fervency about Alcaraz that is almost religious. He has no sense of his own fallibility, convinced by the mystical power of his own talent and creativity – with good reason. He knows he can win Wimbledon, he knows he can beat Sinner on the biggest occasion and he knows he cannot lose a grand slam final; he knows he is Carlos Alcaraz, who makes the impossible possible. Which is, of course, a lie he tells himself, but it is a lie which is true; that was then and that is now.
Meantime, the rest of us can simply look forward to a match-up that is already one of the classics. The Roland Garros final was one of the greatest ever, in any sport, and nothing about these two, as individuals and as rivals, suggests they won’t invent another epic story to elevate the haphazard chaos we call life.
Play: 4pm BST