Jannik Sinner’s merciless demolition of a physically compromised Novak Djokovic in their Wimbledon semifinal late on Friday may well have sounded the death knell for men’s tennis’s golden generation.
In truth, though, the golden generation was gone quite some time ago. For more than a decade, from the mid-2000s to the late-2010s, Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer took this sport to new heights. Not individually but collectively, by nearly always meeting each other in the latter stages of Grand Slams and making the sport must-see viewing.
As they slowly faded, what tennis missed was not the number of Majors they were able to win, but the heightened sense of history and importance that was given to the big matches in which they faced off.
And last month, when Carlos Alcaraz defeated Sinner in a five-set epic in the French Open final by recovering from a two-set deficit and down double championship point, that sense somehow returned. The die-hards and the keen observers may have already known that the matchup can produce quality – their five-set quarterfinal at the 2022 US Open may well be the best tennis to be played this decade so far – but in their first Major final, they produced an astonishing match, with the level only rising as the tension grew too. Tennis became must-see viewing again.
No wonder, then, that since both began their march through the draw at the Championships this year, the clamour has been to watch a repeat of the titanic Parisian battle. It was never an unrealistic expectation; both players have pulled so far away from the rest of the tour that it would have been an anomaly had any player beaten them before they faced each other.
On Sunday, Alcaraz, the two-time defending champion, will play Sinner, the commanding World No.1, for the Wimbledon title. It will be the first time since Federer and Nadal’s 2008 epic – widely considered the greatest tennis match of all time – that the same players will face off in the final in Paris and London back-to-back.
Script has flipped
The script has flipped since the two players came into their match in Paris five weeks ago. Then it was Sinner who looked unflappable, and Alcaraz fallible. Now, the shine has come off Sinner’s domination a bit, after he lost to an unseeded player at a grass tuneup and then was on the cusp of exiting this tournament in his freakish fourth round before his opponent, Grigor Dimitrov, was forced to pull out of the match due to an injury despite leading by two sets.
Story continues below this ad
Alcaraz, though, has looked sublime. Even when pushed under pressure, he looks at ease, always going into another gear when required. A lesser player would have lost against the sprightly Taylor Fritz in their semifinal on Friday, but Alcaraz swatted him aside in four sets.
When on song, Sinner looks like a man on a mission. He flattens opponents through the draw like a mercenary snapping necks in an old-timey war film: ruthless and with cartoonish ease. But the one player that makes him look like a far cry from the best player in the world is Alcaraz. The Spaniard leads their head-to-head 8-4, but far more tellingly, he has won each of their last five matches, enough to occupy substantial space in Sinner’s mind.
The reasons for that record are that he can, for the most part, contend with Sinner’s power from the baseline and has more options to end points with his variegated artistry. His return of serve has also proved to be an effective weapon in unsettling Sinner’s service rhythm.
Those are likely to be two key areas in which Sinner will need to come out on top to win his first Wimbledon title and reverse this recent run of poor form against the Spaniard. His serve will need to be both accurate and consistent to give Alcaraz as few opportunities as possible. And he cannot allow the rallies to go on too long – after which, just as he did in the French Open, Alcaraz can stroll into the forecourt, away from Sinner’s comfort zone of the baseline, and take control with his deft touches at the net, and mix in his slices and drop shots.
Story continues below this ad
When Plan A fails, Sinner must find Plan B or C. Alcaraz is in no need of improvements in that area.
Either way the match goes, though, expect the Centre Court crowd to be on their feet. A new rivalry for a new era; it’s enough to get even the tragic nostalgics up and excited.
In esteemed company
11: Carlos Alcaraz becomes just the 11th player in the history of Open Era men’s tennis to reach a third consecutive Wimbledon final. The other 10 players: John Newcombe, Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic. With a victory, he will join Borg, Sampras, Federer and Djokovic as the only players to win Wimbledon thrice back-to-back.
11: By reaching Sunday’s final, Jannik Sinner became just the 11th player to have reached the final of each of the four Grand Slam tournaments in the Open Era. He is the second-youngest, after Jim Courier, to complete the feat. The Italian is also just the fifth player, after Rod Laver, Andre Agassi, Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic, to reach four Major finals in a row.
