Carlos Alcaraz will probably be quietly pleased with how events have transpired in his absence.
He probably feared the worse when he discovered that his wrist issue would see him miss both the French Open and Wimbledon Championships. Arch-nemesis Jannik Sinner was making a mockery of the Masters events at the time of Alcaraz’s injury, setting the stage for the Italian to pull within one slam of Alcaraz by the time the US Open came around. Alex Zverev had other ideas, storming to a maiden Grand Slam crown in Paris to give Alcaraz a little bit of wiggle-room in that Grand Slam race. But the Italian World No.1 wasn’t to be denied at Wimbledon, overcoming fierce resistance from Alex Zverev before claiming a 2nd consecutive SW19 crown.
Sinner regains his aura
Jannik Sinner’s shock French Open 2nd round capitulation against Cerundolo sent shockwaves through the men’s game. We had finally found Sinner’s Achilles heel: heat. Sinner conspired to lose from a seemingly insurmountable position, emboldening those who had seen him dominate the Masters circuit like it was a weekly club tournament. Sinner- who has had issues with physicality in the past- looked truly vulnerable for the first time in forever. And that vulnerability seeped into his first-round match with gutsy Miomir Kecmanovic, with the Italian having to dig deep to see off the Serb in five sets. Sinner’s patina of invincibility was growing more fragile by the day.
Sinners goes into beserker mode
But Sinner was clearly just dusting out the cobwebs in that first-round tussle. The Italian went into Terminator-mode from that point forward, not dropping a single set en route to the championship match. He was particularly impressive in his straight-sets semifinal triumph over Novak Djokovic, possibly extinguishing the Serb’s hopes of ever lifting a 25th slam. Sinner rode that serve like Seabiscuit for the entire fortnight, emasculating opponents with the sheer ferocity of his delivery. The final turned into a mano a mano serve-off, with Sinner and Zverev trading tiebreaks in each of the first two sets. But Sinner pounced when the opportunities presented themselves in the final two sets, picking up the only two breaks in the match to ultimately prevail 6-7, 7-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Zverev misses out on niche Grand Slam record
I think it’s fair to say that Alex Zverev is going to be a much bigger threat in the slams moving forward. The controversial German has had enough Grand Slam heartbreak for a lifetime of therapy (Freud would have struggled to get to the root of Zverev’s Grand Slam issues). But the German revelled in the heat-induced Parisian chaos, claiming a first Grand Slam title to silence the naysayers. He actually had a chance to make some neat history in London, as he looked to become the first man in the Open Era to win his 2nd slam immediately after winning his first.
Zverev reaches new grass-court heights
And when the dust settles, I think Zverev will be delighted with his Wimbledon campaign. He played with the weight of the world off his shoulders, finally maximizing that 6’ 6” inch frame on the low skiddy grass courts. He served impeccably at Wimbledon, going toe-to-toe with Sinner in their serving nuclear arms race. Sure, he couldn’t quite keep pace with Sinner down the stretch, ultimately going down to a 10th successive defeat at the hands of the Italian. But as 10th straight defeats go; this was pretty heartening. He matched Sinner blow for blow for much of the match (which is rather impressive when you consider that he had never gone beyond the 4th round at Wimbledon prior to this). That French Open victory gave him the confidence to unlock his grass-court potential and should make him a real threat in New York.
