Are Alcaraz and Sinner too saintly for Wimbledon?

Jannik Sinner avenged his defeat at the hands of Carlos Alcaraz in Paris back in May by beating him in four sets at the Wimbledon final last Sunday.  Having failed to convert three match points at the French Open, it only seemed fair for him to win this one. Carlos had won five in a row in their head-to-head encounters before this match, so it’s good to see Sinner closing the gap.

This was the first Wimbledon final that didn’t feature the now defunct “big four” of Nadal, Federer, Murray or Djokovic since 2003. It’s good to see new faces, although these two are likely to be sharing the Slams between them for a good while yet, bar injury or lack of enthusiasm. Alcaraz is 22 and Sinner 23, so they could each have another 15 years in them. However, Alcaraz has a taste for nightclubbing in Ibiza, where he spent a few days between Paris and Queens, much to his coach’s dismay, so he may succumb to the joys of the nightlife. Given the rigours of the tour, one would hardly blame him.

Novak Djokovic is on 24 Slam titles, still trying to surpass the record of Margaret Court, who also won 24. Novak likes making history, but I imagine his time is up. At 38, he is definitely in the twilight of his career and surely thinking of packing it in fairly soon. Like the other “big three”, he probably won’t know when to stop in time. But he’s way less fit and powerful than the two new kids on the block. He might just get to the semis of Slams but is highly unlikely to beat both Sinner and Alcaraz in the same tournament. Sinner crushed him in straight sets this year at Wimbledon, as did Alcaraz in last year’s final.

Alcaraz has already won five Slams, Sinner is on three. Either of them could well reach that magic figure of 25 by the end of their career, Ibiza notwithstanding.

It was generally assumed that this would be the match-up in the finals, except that Sinner was exceptionally lucky to make it through. The hugely talented Bulgarian player, Grigor Dimitrov, completely bamboozled him with such variety that he was leading him by two sets to love in the fourth round, only to then collapse with a pectoral injury. Dimitrov, aka “baby Fed”, for the resemblance of his game to Roger Federer, has now retired injured in the last five Slams. At the age of 34, it seems his time may also be up.

Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are the two most likeable and decent men you can imagine. But this poses a bit of a problem. Most people don’t much mind which of them wins, which dampens the atmosphere somewhat, since no-one is baying for blood — as they so often did for Djokovic, for example. Or willing their man on, as in the case of Roger Federer. When those two met in the 2019 Wimbledon final, poor Novak was playing not just one opponent but about 15,000. That made the match incredibly exciting.

Instead, we must be content to admire two players with extraordinary power and imagination, way ahead of the field. It’s not the same, though, and definitely takes away the thrill of rooting for your man.

So, we have two Wimbledon singles winners in Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek, both quite shy individuals. It’s traditional for the two winners to dance together at the Wimbledon ball on the Sunday night after the tournament. I remember way back in 1971 when Evonne Goolagong won her first Wimbledon singles trophy against Margaret Court. Afterwards she said that when she reached match point, she totally panicked since she didn’t know how to waltz. Top players have incredible rhythm on the court, but that often doesn’t translate to the dance floor. It doesn’t seem very fair to put that pressure on them — although, last Sunday night, Sinner and Swiatek made a pretty good showing.

My money is on Jannik Sinner to win at the US Open, which starts in August. Despite having won on the Wimbledon grass, the hard-court surface is better suited to his game. Although who knows, a smarting Carlos Alcaraz will no doubt be thirsting for revenge.

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