Jannik Sinner set for injury scan as Wimbledon quarter-final thrown into doubt
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Leader Live
4 hours ago
- Leader Live
Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz ready for latest chapter in riveting rivalry
Five weeks after the Spaniard saved three match points and fought back from two sets down in an epic five-and-a-half-hour French Open final, the great rivals will meet again on Centre Court. Sinner, who recovered from the loss by going home to northern Italy and sharing BBQs and table tennis with his friends and family, said with a smile: 'I think if it would be a lot in my head, I would not be in the situation to play a final again. A post shared by Jannik Sinner (@janniksin) 'I'm very happy to share once again the court with Carlos. It's going to be difficult, I know that. But I'm looking forward to it.' Sinner comprehensively defeated a physically compromised Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals after two-time defending champion Alcaraz had got the better of Taylor Fritz to ensure one of the pair will win a seventh straight grand slam title. It is the kind of dominance the big three of Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal achieved in their prime, but Sinner shrugged off comparisons. 'You cannot compare what the big three did for 15-plus years,' said the 23-year-old, who is through to a fourth straight slam final and can become the first Italian man or woman to win a Wimbledon singles title. 'Six grand slams are one-and-a-half years. It's not that big yet. Of course, we find ourselves again in this position. This is the second consecutive grand slam that we are in the final and playing each other, which is great from my side. I believe it's good for the sport. 'The more rivalries we have from now on, the better it is, because people want to see young players going against each other. I'm happy to be in that position, but let's see in the future. If we can make that happen for the next three, four years, then people can think about it.' Sinner and Alcaraz have shared those six titles but the Spaniard holds the psychological edge having won not just at Roland Garros but their last five matches. Of the nine losses world number one Sinner has had since the start of 2024, more than half have been against Alcaraz. 'You don't want to be predictable on the court, so we are going to prepare it in the best possible way. I believe when the match and the rhythm is that high, you play a lot with your gut feeling, too, or what you feel like in that moment. Obviously, also, the surface is different. 'He is the favourite. He won here two times in a row. He's again in the final. It's very tough to beat him on grass, but I like these challenges. I like to go head-to-head and trying to see what I can do and what I can reach.' Alcaraz goes into the final on a 24-match winning streak dating back to April, while he has not lost in 20 contests at Wimbledon. Intriguingly, though, the last defeat he did suffer in SW19 was against Sinner back in 2022. Alcaraz has been impressed by what he has seen from his rival this fortnight, saying: 'I just see Jannik playing great tennis on grass. The movement on grass is the hardest thing to get and the most important thing, at least for me. 'And the movement that Jannik has on grass is unbelievable. He's sliding like he's playing on clay from both legs. It's just unbelievable. 'I'm pretty sure he's going to take a lot of things from the French Open final, that he's going to be better. He's going to be better physically, he's going to be better mentally.' Only Bjorn Borg has won the French Open and Wimbledon double in successive years in the open era, and Alcaraz cannot help but be buoyed by his Paris exploits. 'I still think about that moment, sometimes,' he said. 'It was the best match that I have ever played so far. 'I'm not surprised he pushed me to the limit. I expect that on Sunday. I'm just excited about it. I hope not to be five hours and a half on court again. If I have to, I will. But I think it's going to be great.'
The Guardian
6 hours ago
- The Guardian
No one ever got rich writing off Novak Djokovic, but even he can't stretch time for ever
The Moment comes at the start of the third set. Nobody in tennis can spot a Moment like Novak Djokovic. The Moment is where he lives, breathes, puts gluten-free food on his family's table. What happened before was irrelevant. You can rattle and bully him. You can pummel him off Centre Court for an hour, as Jannik Sinner has done. Djokovic will still prowl the chain-link fence all evening, probing it, waiting for the one gap wide enough to let him squeeze through. The point of greatest weakness is where he finds his greatest strength. Sinner's at 30-30 on his own serve. A defensive backhand from Djokovic sits up invitingly in mid-court, pleading to be dispatched. The world No 1, utterly impeccable to this point, swings a giant fist at the ball and somehow sends it flying in the vague direction of Tooting Broadway. The crowd yelps in shock. Next point Sinner nets a weak forehand, Djokovic raises a fist of defiance, and in the space of a few minutes – plus a few extra for the now-traditional Djokovic treatment break – this particular Italian job has had its bloody doors blown off. And because of what Djokovic was, these moments still feel like they might mean something. Nobody ever got rich writing off the most decorated men's player in history. But because of what Djokovic now is, these moments are so often also illusory: flickering candles of defiance in a gathering storm. Briefly rattled, Sinner collected himself, remembered he was by far the superior player, regained the break and resumed his regal march to a first Wimbledon final. You may be tempted to posit that a grand slam semi-final is a very commendable effort, indeed a borderline-superhuman feat at 38, an age where most former champions are making their first acquaintance with Mansour Bahrami in the invitational doubles on court three. But of course this is why you are not Novak Djokovic and Novak Djokovic is: not just a perfectionist but a completist, a man who always dealt not in moments but in monuments. And on what has become his most comfortable surface, this may have been the moment Project 25 was buried for good. This was meant to go long and deep. Djokovic was going to make it painful, make it heavy, hang in there, use his experience and slowly turn the screw against an injury-hampered Sinner. Instead he was carved up in less than two hours, dominated – shockingly so – on every metric, and in one other important aspect too. Even in defeat, Djokovic could drag you into the pain zone, force you on to his turf, make you play to his rhythm. But now the angles don't seem to exist any more. The court feels bigger under his feet. Sinner was imperious on his serve, hitting Djokovic out of the rallies, forcing the greatest baseline player of all time away from his place of safety. And Djokovic without the baseline is basically like Hendrix without a guitar, or telling Wes Anderson he can't use a whip pan. By the end, the ultimate back-court hustler wasn't even bothering to chase every ball down, not even the very last, put away by Sinner as Djokovic trudged sadly back to his seat. And for all the court craft and tactical nous, the matchplay skills and the iron will, ultimately Djokovic's main point of difference was his body: those ridiculous splaying limbs, the awesome power coiled up in that slender frame, the engine that never seemed to tire, those lightning bursts of speed when it felt like the court might catch fire under him. Djokovic at his most powerful was like playing a giant animatronic spider, a physical advantage so severe it felt like a kind of category difference. Back in his imperial phase he would regard his defeats as learning experiences, rocket fuel for his inevitable next triumph. But now there is no inevitability. Nobody knows how much 'next' remains. He has 10 members of staff devoted to curating his life in tennis, everything from tactics to training to nutrition to recovery. 'Sometimes I get tired of all the chores I have to do on a daily basis,' he said this week. Instead it is Sinner on the steep learning curve, a player who claims to have taken more from Djokovic's game than anybody on tour: the consistency, the relentlessness, the bravery. He even seems to have pilfered the famous Djokovic slide, evidence of a machine intelligence set on decrypting the game's every remaining puzzle. Jelena Djokovic always used to joke that if her husband ever had a spare 10 minutes, he would invariably spend it stretching: calves, hamstrings, shoulders, side body. Now, it's time he's trying to stretch out. One more gym session, one more grand slam, one more season, one more step up the mountain of immortality. This Wimbledon felt like his best chance of burgling one last big pot. Instead, his defeat has simply underlined the broadening chasm between the Big Two and the man they once tried to chase down. What happens now is anyone's guess. The perfectionist in Djokovic will surely not allow him to drift through men's tennis as a vapour of his former self, grimacing his way through painful second-round defeats as his former coach Andy Murray forced himself to do. But the completist in him will surely not be content to end it like this: ground into the dirt in three short sets by a monster he helped to create. There may be more moments. There may just be one more big run. But even for Djokovic, time will not stretch for ever.
Daily Mirror
8 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Carlos Alcaraz's honest admission about Jannik Sinner relationship – 'Not close'
Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz will face Jannik Sinner in the Wimbledon final on Sunday, with the Spaniard making it clear he will never be friends with his Italian rival Carlos Alcaraz has explained why he and Wimbledon final rival Jannik Sinner will never be friends. The reigning champion, who secured his spot in his third straight SW19 final by defeating Taylor Fritz, is set to face the world No. 1, who eased to a straight-sets victory over Novak Djokovic in their semi. The pair, who have been at the pinnacle of men's tennis for the last couple of years, clashed for the first time in a grand slam final at the French Open. Alcaraz emerged victorious after a gruelling five-hour marathon, with Sinner now gunning for his first Wimbledon crown to make up for that gut-wrenching loss. Despite their mutual respect, Alcaraz insists that their intense rivalry will keep them from becoming pals. Speaking to Sky Sports Tennis last year, the Spaniard, 22, said: "Once we are on tour, travelling, at tournaments, on site, we are with our teams and on our own, so we don't speak too much. "But when we can, we talk a little bit besides tennis, about life. But not too much. It means we have a good relationship but we are not close friends. I think the respect we have puts us in a position that we have a really good relationship." Alcaraz maintained that stance during Sinner's three-month doping suspension, which ended in May. Sinner was sidelined after testing positive for anabolic steroid clostebol but reached a settlement with WADA, claiming accidental contamination by a team member while he was being massaged. Upon his return, Sinner expressed mixed feelings about the support he received from his peers, saying: "I received messages from players I didn't expect and I didn't receive anything from others I could expect something from." Alcaraz, as reported by Marca, was among the players not to reach out to Sinner during his ban. He admitted: "I haven't spoken to him during his disqualification. Everyone looks out for themselves. "We are not very close. In the end we are also rivals and I can't have a close friendship with a person I want to beat." Despite this, Alcaraz conveyed respect for Sinner's comeback, adding: "I have great respect for him. What he is doing now after being out for three months is incredible. I was very happy to see him back on the circuit. It's normal for him to feel disappointed. But it is what it is." Alcaraz's approach mirrors that taken by Djokovic when dealing with Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. The Serbian, who plans to continue playing despite his crushing loss to Sinner, once said of Nadal, per Corriere Della Sera: "Nadal is only a year older than me, we are both Geminis. At first we even went to dinner together, twice. But even with him, friendship is impossible." Regarding Federer, he said: "We have never been friends. Between rivals, it is not possible, but we have never been enemies. "I've always had respect for Federer, he was one of the greatest of all time. He had an extraordinary impact, but I've never been close to him."
