Jannik Sinner downed Carlos Alcaraz 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 on Sunday to win his first Wimbledon title, gaining sweet revenge for his painful defeat in the French Open final.
The world No 1 is the first Italian to win at the All England Club and now has four Grand Slams to his name at the age of 23.
The tennis world has been captivated by the emergence of the new rivalry to follow the storied “Big Three” era of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
Sinner and two-time defending Wimbledon champion Alcaraz have now shared the past seven Grand Slam titles between them, with the Italian winning four of those.
Defeat in Paris last month was a bitter blow for Sinner, who led by two sets and squandered three match points in the final.
Before Sunday's victory, he had lost five consecutive times against Alcaraz, including the final of the Italian Open in the first tournament he played after returning from a three-month doping ban. But this time he turned the tables in impressive fashion.
“I had a very tough loss in Paris,” admitted Sinner in his on-court interview. “But at the end of the day it doesn't matter how you win or you lose, at important tournaments you just have to understand what you did wrong and work on that.
“We tried to accept the loss and keep working. For sure that is one of the reasons why I am holding this trophy. Having this means a lot.”
To his beaten opponent, Sinner added: “It is so difficult to play you but we have a great relationship off the court. Keep going, keep pushing, you are going to hold this trophy many times – you already have twice!”
Both players were solid on serve until the fifth game, when Alcaraz sprayed a forehand long to hand Sinner the first break of the match.
But the Spaniard levelled at 4-4 to the delight of the Centre Court crowd, which included Prince William and his wife Catherine, Princess of Wales.
Sinner double-faulted to hand Alcaraz a second set point.
The Italian laced a searing forehand down the line but Alcaraz produced a magical backhand winner, pointing his finger to his ear as the crowd rose to their feet.
Sinner, still wearing a protective white sleeve after his nasty fall in his fourth-round match against Grigor Dimitrov, broke in the first game of the second set and led 3-1 after play was briefly halted by a flying cork.
Sinner shook his racquet after winning the first point as he served for the set and was rewarded with cheers before levelling the match with a whipped forehand.
The third set was a tense affair that went with serve until the ninth game when Sinner broke as Alcaraz slipped over on the baseline and he went 2-1 up.
The momentum was now all with Sinner and he broke again in the third game of the fourth set to take the match by the scruff of the neck.
The chance was always there that Alcaraz would produce the magic he found at Roland Garros but Sinner stayed ice-cool.
The Spaniard had two break points to hit back in the eighth game but Sinner shut the door impressively.
Sinner stepped up to serve for the championship amid a cacophony of noise, staying focused to seal the deal on his second championship point.
The Italian cruised through the first three rounds at Wimbledon, losing just 17 games – equalling an Open era record set in 1972.
But he got lucky in the fourth round against inspired Bulgarian 19th seed Dimitrov, who was leading by two sets when he suffered an injury that forced him to quit.
Sinner got back into the groove against 10th seed Ben Shelton in the quarter-finals before demolishing seven-time champion Djokovic in the last four.
Alcaraz had been aiming to become just the fifth man in the Open era to win three consecutive Wimbledons after Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampras, Federer and Djokovic.
“It is always difficult to lose even if it is in the final. I have to congratulate Jannik once again,” said Alcaraz in his on-court interview.” It is really well deserved and an unbelievable two weeks for you here in London.
“I am really happy for you. Keep it going. It is great to build a great rivalry and you made me improve every day. Congratulations.”
