Courting grass: On Wimbledon 2025

The Hindu

14-07-2025

Feats on grass have a special allure. When they come at Wimbledon, the most prestigious grass court on the planet, they acquire a richer tone of lustre. Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek, who won their maiden titles at the All England Club over the weekend, stand testament to this. Both were past Major champions, with Sinner having won three and Swiatek five trophies. Yet, by their own admission, very few achievements rank alongside their runs on the pristine lawns of southwest London. The wins also come at a critical juncture in their tennis lives as both players served doping-related bans in recent months and had their sporting ethics questioned. For Sinner, the success against two-time defending and five-time Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz snapped a streak of five straight losses to the Spaniard. This sequence contained the most painful of all defeats, at Roland-Garros last month where the Italian lost despite being three championship points up. The victory at SW19 showed the 23-year-old's remarkable powers of recovery and mental resilience. For Swiatek, Wimbledon was her first trophy of any kind since the French Open 2024. The Pole, who had spent a combined 125 weeks as No. 1 — seventh best in history — had slid down the rankings and had lost her aura. But by winning on her least-favoured surface, she has resurrected her career emphatically.
Sinner's and Swiatek's triumphs will also have wide-ranging effects on their respective Tours. Sinner and Alcaraz have now split the last seven Majors between them, and Wimbledon was the second straight Slam final they were sparring in. In fact, starting from the Rome Masters in early May where Sinner made his comeback from doping suspension, they have clashed in the final in all three competitions they have both been part of, reinforcing the view that theirs is now men's tennis' pre-eminent rivalry. They have met 13 times — 10 of them in semifinal or better — and appear to have fully satiated fans' desire to see a worthy follow-up to the famed Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal duel. Ranked No. 1 and No. 2, they are also head and shoulders above the rest of the field. The gulf is best explained by Sinner's ATP points-tally of 12,030, which is nearly double that of third-ranked Alexander Zverev. Swiatek, meanwhile, has re-established the triumvirate atop the women's game. The 24-year-old may be the ninth different Wimbledon winner in as many editions, but she, Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff have won 10 of the past 14 Majors. Swiatek's six Slams make her the leading light among active women, a position she seems primed to hold on to.