13/07/2025

READ OUR

HERE

theSun on Sunday JULY 13, 2025

SPORTS 12

Malaysian Paper

/thesun

Sinner snaps Djokovic’s run

World No. 1 sends Serb packing with ruthless display to set up Alcaraz showdown

TOP seed Jannik Sinner ensured Novak Djokovic will be absent from a Wimbledon men’s singles final for the first time in eight years after handing the Serbian great a brutal Centre Court battering yesterday. Italian Sinner lost both his previous Wimbledon duels with Djokovic but turned the tables in emphatic fashion as his power and precision proved too much for the seven-time champion who, at 38, looked every bit his age in a humbling 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 loss. In his first Wimbledon final, the 23-year-old Sinner will face Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz in a tantalising re-match of their recent French Open humdinger which the Italian lost after battling

chased him down as he looked defenceless against a sublime Sinner who dropped only six points on serve in the first two sets. Djokovic appeared to struggle physically in the closing stages after needing treatment and Sinner wasted no time in putting the old warrior out of his misery in less than two hours to complete his set of Grand Slam finals. Sinner joined in the applause as Djokovic left Centre Court, giving a thumbs up to a cheering crowd who may have thought they had witnessed his last Wimbledon hurrah. Djokovic, who has reached the semifinals of every Grand Slam this year – retiring against Alexander Zverev in Australia and losing to Sinner in Paris and now in London – later said he plans to be back, but admitted the wear and tear of battling the new generation takes its toll. “When I’m fresh and fit I can still play really good tennis but playing best of five,

that’s possible.” Djokovic, who arrived in London bidding to equal Roger Federer’s men’s record eight Wimbledon titles and claim an unprecedented 25th major trophy, had not lost an All England Club semi final since the Swiss got the better of him in 2012. But his 52nd Grand Slam semifinal proved a bridge too far as Sinner repeated his victory at the same stage of Roland Garros to confirm that a new order has now firmly established itself at the top of men’s tennis. Djokovic has often looked superhuman on Wimbledon’s most historic stage, but yesterday F a t h e r T i m e

hoping to become his country’s first champion at the grasscourt slam,” said on court.

“It’s a huge honour to share the court with Carlos, we try to push ourselves to the limit. I love watching him. Hopefully it will be a good match like the last one, I don’t know about better, I

d o n ’ t t h i n k

particularly this year, has been a s t rugg l e physically,“

for more than five hours, squandering three championship points. Alcaraz stayed on course for a Wimbledon three peat with a 6-4, 5-7, 6 3, 7-6(6) defeat of Taylor Fritz. “I don’t know what to expect, you saw the last final and you never know,” Sinner, just the third Italian to reach a Wimbledon singles final and

he

told

reporters. “The longer it goes, the worse the

condition gets. I reached the semis of every slam this year but had to play these guys who are fit and young and I feel like I go into the matches with the tank half empty. “It’s just one of those things I need to embrace and deal with the reality.” – Reuters

Jannik Sinner (left) and Novak Djokovic. – REUTERSPIC

CARLOS ALCARAZ insists his epic French Open victory against Jannik Sinner will count for nothing when the arch-rivals resume their battle for supremacy in the Wimbledon final today. Just 35 days after Alcaraz saved three championship points and came from two sets down to beat Sinner in the longest final in French Open history, the Spaniard will once again lock horns with the world No. 1. Alcaraz, the two-time defending Wimbledon champion, battled into his third successive All England Club showpiece with a 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (8-6) win over American fifth seed Taylor Fritz. Sinner responded only hours later with a statement of intent, the Italian top seed crushing seven-time Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 in a masterful display. Sunday’s eagerly anticipated showdown will be the 13th meeting between Alcaraz and Sinner, with the Spaniard holding an 8-4 edge after winning the past five. Sinner, a three-time Grand Slam winner, is adamant his collapse on clay at Roland Garros no longer preys on his mind, and Alcaraz is convinced his rival Paris glory means nothing for Carlos

Fritz vows to learn lessons after Wimbledon dreams dashed

little to go on. “He just does everything so well,” Fritz explained. “I think for a long time people said his serve was one of the weaker parts of his game. There’s zero weakness with his serve the way he was serving today.” On a scorching Centre Court, Alcaraz’s serve was red-hot.

TAYLOR FRITZ knows that elite tennis can be an unforgiving classroom at times, but he is determined to learn lessons from painful defeats like the one he suffered at the hands of Carlos Alcaraz at Wimbledon on Friday. Fritz was beaten 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, 7-6(6) by the Spaniard in a compelling semifinal at the All England Club in which he sporadically ruffled the twice-defending champion’s feathers before falling to defeat. Yet the American, who also

will not wilt in their rematch. “Not at all, to be honest. What Jannik has, because he learned from everything as a huge champion, from the losses, from the matches he’s playing, he just get better after every match,”Alcaraz said. “I’m pretty sure he’s going to take a lot of things from the French Open final. He’s being to be better physically, he’s going to be better mentally. He’s going to be prepared to give 100%. “I’m not thinking I have the advantage mentally on Sunday because of that match.” Alcaraz is ready for another bruising encounter, even if he would prefer not to be on court for 5½ hours again in a repeat of the French Open slugfest. “I’m not surprised he pushed me to the limit. I expect that on Sunday,” he said. “The level that Jannik’s playing, it’s really high, as always. “I think he doesn’t get down in the matches. It’s unbelievable what he can do on a tennis court. “I just hope not to be five hours and a half on court again. “As I said, if I have to, I will. But I think it’s going to be great.” – AFP

He won 100% of his first serve points in the first set and in the third Fritz gained a single point in total on the Alcaraz delivery. Part of the problem for Fritz was that simply getting the serve back was never going to be enough to unsettle Alcaraz, with the American knowing that one poor return could end the point before it began and playing it safe would hand the Spaniard easy winners.

lost to world No. 1 Jannik Sinner in last year’s US Open final, does not want to view these losses as a failure, but as part of an invaluable learning curve for his Grand Slam ambitions. “Every time I play these guys, I learn a lot about what I need to do to improve and get better,” Fritz said.

“I know that I can’t just make the return because he’ll just drill the ball open court, and I’ll lose the point,” he said. “I think the long-term thing I could have done was just do what I was doing, but just return better and return more aggressively,” he said. “I think that’s something I need to get a lot better at, is returning aggressively.” – Reuters

“Moving ahead, I just want to keep working on the things that are going to get me better, that are going to help me compete with these guys because at the end of the day, my ultimate goal is to win a slam,” the world No. 5 added. If Fritz was hoping to learn about any weaknesses that he could exploit in Alcaraz’s game, Friday’s defeat left him with