After his shock second-round exit at Roland Garros in May, the pressure was on Jannik Sinner to return to major glory this fortnight at Wimbledon, where he was the top seed and defending champion.
The No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings had not lifted a trophy at a Slam since his victory against Carlos Alcaraz in The Championships last year but ensured he left London with major title number five on Sunday following a four-set win against Alexander Zverev.
Afterward, Sinner’s coaches Darren Cahill and Simone Vagnozzi opened up on their charge's ability to bounce back.
“There's been a few kicks in the stomach along the way,” Cahill said when reflecting on Sinner’s ‘amazing’ career so far. “Tough losses. The match points against Carlos [Alcaraz] the previous year. What happened to him at Roland Garros this year. But probably what makes us the most proud of him and working with him is the way he comes back from those. It doesn't put him down for too long. Obviously he's disappointed after those moments.
“But it's a day later. We get a phone call. ‘All right, boys, what are we doing? Let's get back on the court. What are we working towards? What's the plan? Where are we going? What do we need to do to get better?’ That's his attitude in tennis and it is his attitude in life. That's why he's so great to work with.
“We spoke about his resilience in those moments, being able to come back and be bigger, stronger and faster whenever he has a bad moment. In this final he needed that to get through this match because he was tested badly against Zverev today. He showed amazing resilience. If you don't have those tough moments, maybe you never grow like he's been able to grow. We look at it as a big positive in his personality.”
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Sinner was aiming to complete the Career Grand Slam at Roland Garros but lost to Juan Manuel Cerundolo in five sets in hot conditions. The 24-year-old Italian struggled physically during that match in the French capital but coped well in the London heat throughout the past week.
“You can probably even see during the matches he leaves the court now after a couple of sets, goes and changes, walks into the air-conditioning, changes his shirt, even if he doesn't have to,” Cahill said. “He's getting in a routine on the warmer days to make sure he's doing everything possible to make sure he can play his top level on those super, super hot days. Look, he's a redhead who lives in the north of Italy, who grew up in the snow and the Alps. Hot weather is a little bit different for him than it is for most people.
“The more time he spends in the heat, the better he's going to be at it. We already saw this here. I think it was one of the hottest Wimbledons on record. He managed through that incredibly well. We might even make some changes to the pre-season, chasing the sun a little bit more, getting him more acclimatised to playing in these types of conditions. He did amazingly well these entire two weeks.”
In a tough battle against Zverev, Sinner absorbed the German’s big ball-striking and remained patient on return to crucially break his opponent's serve once in the third set and once in the fourth.
Cahill was impressed with the level of the match and by the performance of Zverev, who lifted his first major trophy at Roland Garros last month.
“I really thought that was an amazing performance by both players today, but especially Jannik, because Alexander, we've had glimpses of him trying to play that way in previous head-to-head matchups,” Cahill said. “The first set in Miami, when he came out, he was unloading on every single forehand, playing really aggressively, served really well, had a couple of chances early in the first set in that particular match as well. We knew he was capable of doing it. We just didn't know how long he could do it for.
“When you try to push yourself to redline on a particular shot, Centre Court Wimbledon, final against Jannik, he did amazing. He nearly won that second set, nearly got a two-sets-to-love lead. If he continues to play that level of tennis and that style of tennis, he's already a problem, but he's going to be a major problem moving forward.”
Sinner now leads Zverev 11-4 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series and has won the pair’s past 10 meetings. The Italian will hold a 4,970-point advantage over the soon-to-be World No. 2 Zverev in Monday's PIF ATP Rankings, while he also leaves London with the champion's cheque of £3.6 million.
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