Prince William, Kate and kids watch the men's singles final from the Royal Box at Wimbledon
The beaming family waved to fans as they landed in SW19 on Sunday for the showdown match between Italian Jannik Sinner, 23, and Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, 22.
Tipped to be an all-time classic final, Kate and Wills, both 43, are watching on from the Royal Box as the top two players in the world battle it out in front of a packed Centre Court crowd of 15,000, The Sun reports.
They have been joined by two of their three children, George, 11, and Charlotte, 10 – for the game.
The family stepped into the Royal Box shortly before the start of the hotly-anticipated match, greeting and smiling to other attendees.
Thousands of fans rose to their feet to applaud the royals as they took their seats at the front of the Royal Box.
Alcaraz will target a third successive Wimbledon title as Sinner aims to win the All England Club crown for the first time in the latest enthralling chapter of their burgeoning rivalry.
Just five weeks after Alcaraz staged one of the all-time great fightbacks to beat Sinner in a classic French Open final, the pair bring their battle for supremacy to Wimbledon's hallowed Centre Court on Sunday.
Alcaraz and Sinner have shared seven of the past eight Grand Slams between them, evenly splitting the six on offer since the start of 2024.
The tennis world has been captivated by the emergence of the new rivalry after the storied era of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
Alcaraz is the flashy showman who has stolen the hearts of the Centre Court crowd, while world number one Sinner is Djokovic 2.0 – a ruthlessly efficient operator who rarely misses.
Two-time defending Wimbledon champion Alcaraz will start as the marginal favourite on Sunday but knows he has to bring his best to keep Sinner at bay.
The Spanish world number two has won eight of his 12 matches against his Italian rival, including the past five.
Their most recent clash was in last month's phenomenal five-and-a-half hour French Open final, when Alcaraz rallied from two sets down and saved three match points to defend his clay-court title.
The 22-year-old, who has five majors under his belt, is on a career-best winning run of 24 matches and is unbeaten at the All England Club since 2022.
But three-time Grand Slam winner Sinner, playing his first Wimbledon final, will take heart from the fact that he was the last man to beat Alcaraz at Wimbledon, in the fourth round three years ago.
The Spaniard, who beat US fifth seed Taylor Fritz in the semi-finals, does not believe his remarkable comeback in Paris gives him the mental edge.
'I'm pretty sure he's going to take a lot of things from the French Open final,' he said.
'He's going to be better physically, he's going to be better mentally. He's going to be prepared to give 100 per cent.' Both men have shown vulnerabilities during their runs to the final. Alcaraz was taken to five sets in his opener against Italian veteran Fabio Fognini and has dropped sets in three of his other matches.
Sinner, 23, was rock solid for three rounds but had an almighty scare – and a huge slice of luck – when his fourth-round opponent, Grigor Dimitrov, retired when leading by two sets.
But he swept past US 10th seed Ben Shelton in straight sets and demolished an under-par Djokovic in the semi-finals.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
ABC News
5 hours ago
- ABC News
England and India face tense final day at Lord's with third Test on a knife's edge
England has dismissed four Indian batters and given the Lord's Test another twist of fate to leave it on a knife-edge heading toward the fifth and final day. India set itself a winning target of 193 runs but was reduced to 4-58 in its second innings overnight. Stumps, with eight overs remaining, came as a relief to India, with England fired up and a sun-soaked Lord's crowd turned happily hostile. For one of the teams to take a 2-1 lead in the five-match series, England needs six more wickets or India needs 135 more runs. Asked for a prediction, India's Washington Sundar smiled and said his team was in the box seat to claim the win. "Definitely India winning tomorrow. Just after lunch," he said. "The position we are in right now, we would have taken. Maybe one down would be ideal." Opening batter Lokesh Rahul will resume on 33 not out but with the ball only 17.4 overs old and still juicy. India began its chase after tea and appeared to weather the early storm after Yashasvi Jaiswal fell to Jofra Archer for a duck and fellow opener Rahul was dropped on five by Chris Woakes. Rahul and Karun Nair piled more hurt on England and were chipping runs off the target until nearly an hour later when Nair left a straight delivery from seamer Brydon Carse and was plumb LBW. India appeared to panic. In came captain Shubman Gill, the series' most prolific batter. But he was unusually anxious, played six false shots in the nine balls he faced, and was out LBW to Carse for six. That huge wicket sent England into orbit and Carse into overdrive. India sent in fast bowler Akash Deep as a nightwatchman and for the last 15 minutes of the day he was targeted. Deep survived a video review on umpire's call and multiple LBW and catch appeals off Carse. But it was Stokes who smashed his off stump in what turned out to be the last ball of a remarkable day. The inspired Carse had 2-11 and Stokes 1-15. In all, 14 wickets fell on day four. "When the ball gets a little bit softer, there are more runs to be had out there, but if you get it enough in the right place [the pitch is] very tricky," England batting coach Marcus Trescothick told the BBC. "It'll come down to who holds the pressure best tomorrow." England was fielding on days two and three and gave its bowlers only 61 overs of rest before it was bowling again on day four. England was batting at 4-154 in the afternoon session and looking good to post a challenging target but it suffered a collapse of 6-38 to be all out for 192. For some reason, the pitch turned nasty overnight. It was offering plenty for the new-ball seamers and India's Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj made deliveries fly off a length and rear up almost dangerously. On this minefield, four England batters blew up in the morning. Ben Duckett swatted straight to mid-on and Siraj followed through by screaming "come on" twice in Duckett's face and they brushed shoulders. Siraj got Ollie Pope next, LBW for four after a review. Zak Crawley's brave but skittish innings finished on 22, edging a drive at Nitish Kumar Reddy. Harry Brook relieved the tension by scooping Deep for two boundaries and smashing him into the members' pavilion. But Brook then tried sweeping the seamer and was bowled around his pads on 23. Joe Root and Stokes took England to lunch on 4-98 and spent the afternoon edging their team toward a defendable target; 250 in the mind of most observers. The pitch eased as the ball softened and Root and Stokes took England past 100 and 150. Then off-spinner Sundar regained the momentum for India when he found drift and spin and bowled Root on 40 (sweeping), Jamie Smith on 8 (defending), Stokes on 33 (sweeping) and Shoaib Bashir on 0 (defending). Sundar had 4-22 in 12.1 overs, the best figures by an India spinner in England in 23 years. Bumrah took 2-38 and Siraj 2-31. "They were all big wickets, especially [at] the stage of play," Sundar said. "The UK has been kind. I don't get as much drift in subcontinent conditions." A dozen England batters in the match were bowled, the most by England in a Test since 1887 in Sydney. It had never happened in England. Six of the bowleds in the match were by Bumrah. That was a first for India against England. The last bowler to bowl six Englishmen was Curtly Ambrose in 1994 at Port of Spain. But India's terrific bowling effort showed England what kind of damage it can do, too, and set up the match for a thrilling finale at a sold-out Lords. AP
ABC News
5 hours ago
- ABC News
Jannick Sinner reveals secret Wimbledon bet that could keep Darren Cahill in his team
Jannik Sinner's Wimbledon title might mean he will be able to keep Darren Cahill around as one of his coaches beyond this season, all thanks to a friendly wager they made before Sunday's final at the All England Club. Back in January, while Sinner was on his way to winning the Australian Open, it came out that Cahill would be leaving his role as one of the top-ranked player's two coaches at the end of 2025. After Sinner beat Carlos Alcaraz 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 for the championship at Wimbledon on Sunday, Cahill was asked whether he would reconsider the decision to depart the team. "I don't want to answer this," Cahill responded. "You know what? You just need to ask Jannik that." So an Italian reporter followed those instructions and did put the topic to Sinner, who smiled and paused. "It depends whether I want to tell the truth or not," Sinner said. And then he proceeded to explain the whole situation in Italian, revealing that maybe Cahill's exit is not set in stone, after all. That's because the two of them had a conversation on Saturday night. "We had a bet before the final. He said, 'If you win tomorrow, you can decide whether or not I stay,'" Sinner said. "Now the choice is mine. I've always looked for a person who is honest, a person who gives me a lot, not necessarily only on the tennis court, but [about] how to live." Sinner went on to say that he would love to have Cahill stick around. Sinner also did acknowledge that if Cahill did continue to work alongside co-coach Simone Vagnozzi, Cahill probably would not travel on tour as much as he does currently. "The season is long. There are a lot of tournaments. You never know," Sinner said. "But let's just say I won the bet, and so we'll see what happens." AP
Sky News AU
5 hours ago
- Sky News AU
Today's News Headlines: Labor group rejects antisemitism plan
Janik Sinner beats Carlos Alcaraz in Wimbledon final, U.S. presses Australia over Taiwan position. Plus, a light plane crashes at an airport in the UK.
