Jannik

LONDON — Jannik Sinner is starting to make a habit of responding to adversity in Paris with titles at Wimbledon.

The top-ranked Sinner beat Alexander Zverev 6-7 (7), 7-6 (2), 6-3, 6-4 Sunday for his second consecutive title at the All England Club after his German opponent appeared bothered by a knee injury following a slip to the grass on a key point in the third set.

Sinner’s fifth Grand Slam title came in his first tournament since a second-round meltdown at the French Open, when he wilted in a Paris heat wave.

When Sinner ripped a forehand winner up the line on his first match point, the Italian dropped to the grass on his back in celebration.

Jannik Sinner celebrates after winning a point against Alexander Zverev during the men’s singles Wimbledon final in London on Sunday.

(Kin Cheung / Associated Press)

A year ago, Sinner beat Carlos Alcaraz in the final at the All England Club after wasting three match points against his rival in the Roland Garros final.

It was Sinner’s 10th straight victory over Zverev, who was coming off his first Grand Slam title at the French Open.

Linda Noskova beat Karolina Muchova in an all-Czech women’s final on Saturday for her first Grand Slam title.

Prince William joined his wife Kate and two of their children for the final in a star-studded Royal Box that also included actors Dustin Hoffman, Nicole Kidman and Ben Stiller.

Zverev slips

The top two seeds appeared perfectly matched until Zverev earned his first break point of the match at 3-3 in the third set — 2 hours and 42 minutes in. Sinner produced a drop shot and Zverev slipped and appeared to hyperextend his right knee as he attempted to change directions behind the baseline.

Zverev grasped his knee in apparent discomfort and Sinner went around the net and helped his opponent up off the grass. Zverev quickly resumed playing but he appeared slightly hampered and slung his racket across the baseline in frustration when he missed a forehand and handed Sinner the first break of the match and a 5-3 lead in the third. Sinner then served it out.

Zverev had also lost 14 straight sets to Sinner and when he claimed the opening set of the final with a forehand winner up the line to conclude a tight tiebreaker, he let out a loud roar toward his box as he bent over in celebration.

Zverev continually cranked out serves at up to 139 mph, while Sinner produced a series of well-placed aces at a slightly lower speed.

But Sinner began to read Zverev’s serve better in the second-set tiebreaker and Zverev started to miss forehands.

Jannik Sinner kisses his trophy after defeating Alexander Zverev to win the men’s singles Wimbledon title in London on Sunday.

(Kirsty Wigglesworth / Ap Photo/kirsty Wigglesworth)

Paris meltdown

Amid stifling heat and humidity in Paris in late May, Sinner had his 30-match winning streak ended after coming within one game of a straight-set victory over Juan Manuel Cerundolo, who was ranked No. 56.

Conditions were cooler in southwest London for the final, with clear skies and a temperature of 82 degrees but it was also breezy — which led to a series of shanked shots from both players.

Sinner went in for medical exams in Milan after the Paris defeat and didn’t play an official match again until he arrived at Wimbledon, where he twice had to come back from a set down in a five-set marathon against Miomir Kecmanovic in the first round.

Sinner then didn’t drop a set the rest of the way until the final, having dominated against Novak Djokovic in the semifinals.

Despite the defeat in the final, Zverev will leapfrog Alcaraz into the No. 2 spot in the rankings on Monday.

Alcaraz missed both the French Open and Wimbledon this year because of a right wrist injury.

Women’s doubles

Kristina Mladenovic won a seventh career Grand Slam women’s doubles title by teaming up with Guo Hanyu to defeat Gabriela Dabrowski and Luisa Stefani 6-3, 7-5 in the final Sunday.

Mladenovic has won the French Open doubles tournament four times and the Australian Open twice with different partners but lost her only previous Wimbledon final in 2014.

“It’s really a dream,” said the French player, who missed much of last year with an injury. “I definitely cannot believe what just happened now.”

Mattias Karén contributed to this report. Dampf and Karén write for the Associated Press.

One month after the world number one suffered a seismic shock at the French Open, another upset was brewing.

Confronted with unwanted history, Sinner would have to come from behind to beat Miomir Kecmanovic in five sets and avoid becoming only the third defending Wimbledon men’s champion to lose in the first round.

The 24-year-old’s durability in marathon encounters has long been a concern, with Sinner having lost eight of his previous nine matches that went the distance.

There had also been a shattering event in Paris for the second year in a row.

Sinner arrived at Wimbledon having not competed since his extraordinary collapse in the French Open second round, when he lost to Argentine Juan Manuel Cerundolo from two sets and 5-1 up.

He had recovered from a far greater catastrophe to triumph at the All England Club in 2025, taking revenge on rival Carlos Alcaraz just 35 days after losing their epic Roland Garros final from two sets and three championship points up.

But now his physical resilience was under the spotlight – and the early signs at Wimbledon offered encouragement to those eyeing his throne.

Both junctures would have taken others months to recover from. For Sinner, they became catalysts for greater heights.

“This one means a lot because it was a tough one after Paris, again,” Sinner said.

“Last year was also tough. But coming here, I tried to put myself in the best position to be as competitive as possible.

“We put in a lot of long days, sacrificing a lot to be in this position.”

Jannik Sinner says Alexander Zverev can be a Wimbledon champion soon and promises to “be very, very careful” as the German challenges his world number one status, following a four-set win for Sinner in the final of the grass-court Grand Slam.

READ MORE: Sinner holds off Zverev to defend Wimbledon title

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Novak Djokovic’s pursuit for a record 25th Grand Slam title is put to an end by defending champion Jannik Sinner, whose straight-set win sets up a meeting with Alexander Zverev in the final of Wimbledon 2026.

READ MORE: Superb Sinner ends Djokovic’s latest bid for history

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After being taken to a decider against Miomir Kecmanovic in his opening match, Sinner has not dropped a set in his past four matches.

However, not all of those victories have been straightforward as the scoreline suggests, and the top seed has yet to find his best form at SW19.

That has yet to prove a major problem for the 24-year-old, who has upped his level when needed to claim the decisive breaks and get himself over the finish line.

But, with world number 48 Nuno Borges being the highest-ranked opponent he has faced so far, it remains to be seen how he will fare against someone like Djokovic or fourth seed Auger-Aliassime.

Against Struff, Sinner endured a slow start and was taken to deuce in three successive service games, while the 6ft 4in German cruised through his.

But Sinner clung on and remained composed to first break for a 6-5 lead before serving out the opener to take the lead.

After trading breaks in the second set, Struff had the chance to level the tie when he brought up a set point, but Sinner’s serve saw him out of trouble and he breezed through the tie-break.

The four-time major winner remained relaxed as he dropped just four points on his serve in the third set and, after striking the decisive blow at 4-3, confidently served out the victory to seal his spot in the final four.

Jannik Sinner survived an almighty scare as he began his Wimbledon title defence with a five-set comeback victory over inspired opponent Miomir Kecmanovic on Centre Court.

One month on from a seismic second-round loss at the French Open, four-time major winner Sinner recovered from an error-strewn start and an awkward fall to overcome his 50th-ranked opponent 4-6 6-3 6-7 (6-8) 6-2 6-3 after a tense three and a half hours.

Sinner opted against contesting a grass tournament in the lead-up to Wimbledon, with this his first match since an extraordinary collapse against Argentine Juan Manuel Cerundolo, whom he had led by two sets and 5-1 at Roland Garros.

Having appeared to physically shut down in the stifling Paris heat that day, Sinner’s durability was thoroughly tested by Kecmanovic, and he was fortunate to escape relatively unscathed after a moment of genuine concern inside the stadium court.

There were gasps in the crowd when Sinner slipped behind the baseline during the third set and took time to return to his feet, the umpire heading over to check on his wellbeing.

Blood was also seen seeping from Sinner’s shoe during a must-win fourth set for the Italian, which he later explained was caused by a problematic toe nail.

But Sinner raised his level when it truly mattered to avert another early exit, improving his poor recent record in five-set matches to avoid becoming only the third defending Wimbledon men’s champion to lose in the first round.

More to follow.

Australian sixth seed Alex de Minaur was involved in the protests at last month’s French Open but decided he did not want to take part at Wimbledon.

“I think the sense that we had at Roland Garros was everyone was on board, even though we didn’t, as a collective, achieve the numbers that we were looking for,” he said.

“I thought that Wimbledon made a big step in the right direction, and something that should be noted. So this is for me to acknowledge their big step.”

Germany’s Alexander Zverev, who claimed his first major win in Paris earlier this month, also decided to step back.

“I still want to be part of the players’ movement, but also I realised the media can’t really do anything about it, or can’t really change it,” said Zverev, who represented the players in talks with the Grand Slams at Wimbledon last year.

“It’s not good to take it [out] on someone that doesn’t have the power of control, so I’m doing half an hour [of media]. But I still hope for some change in tennis, for sure.”

This year’s Wimbledon singles champions will each take home £3.6m, up from £3m last year, while first-round losers will earn £80,000.

The Williams sisters, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic are back at Wimbledon. What year is it again?

The mention of those names may make it feel like we’re stuck in a timewarp – but, no, it is 2026 and some of the sport’s greatest are returning to SW19, in one way or another.

American icon Serena Williams, 44, is making a blockbuster singles comeback after four years away from the sport and also resumes her iconic doubles pairing with sister Venus, 46.

British legend Murray is back at the scene of his greatest triumphs as part of Jack Draper’s coaching team.

Djokovic, meanwhile, is only a week younger than 39-year-old Murray yet is still chasing that elusive record 25th Grand Slam title.

“It’s very special to be here – we have quite a history here. It’s nice to be back in 2026,” said Venus Williams, who has won five singles and six doubles titles at the All England Club.

As one of the highlights of the British sporting summer, Wimbledon never goes under the radar, but the presence of the old guard will help elevate the grass-court Grand Slam in a summer stacked with sporting events.

Eyeballs are inevitably trained on the men’s football World Cup, particularly with England still in the competition, while the women’s T20 cricket World Cup and British Grand Prix are also jostling for the limelight.

The appearance of the legends – along with younger superstars like Jannik Sinner, Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff, plus the high-profile return of Briton Jack Draper – will ensure Wimbledon will remain at the centre of attention.

“We’re always unbelievably excited to be part of an exciting summer of sport,” Wimbledon tournament director Jamie Baker told BBC World Service.

“Every summer there are always other big events on and I think that does add to the buzz around sport in general. We do love being part of that.”

It is a bitterly disappointing way to exit the tournament for Sinner, whose favourite tag was enhanced further with defending champion and great rival Carlos Alcaraz missing with injury.

With 24-time Grand Slam-winner Novak Djokovic also nearing the end of his illustrious career, fitness was expected to be one of the biggest obstacles to Sinner’s bid for glory.

Paris has seen unseasonably hot weather, with temperatures topping 34C, and Sinner has struggled previously in extreme heat.

Sinner was also on a 30-match winning streak, having won five Masters 1000 titles in a row over the past three months on hard and clay courts.

He cramped badly in temperatures close to 40C at this year’s Australian Open, and admitted he “got lucky” when the heat rule was enforced in his third-round match against Eliot Spizzirri in Melbourne.

After opening his campaign against Clement Tabur in Tuesday’s cooler night session, Sinner was first on court against Cerundolo in a rare move by Roland Garros organisers.

The last time a men’s number one opened proceedings on Court Philippe Chatrier before the semi-final stage was 10 years ago, when Novak Djokovic beat Tomas Berdych in the quarter-finals.

Although Sinner seemed to benefit initially from the early start, the physical issues that have hampered his display in previous matches in extreme heat resurfaced.

Defeating Tabur stretched Sinner’s winning streak to 30 matches, which has already yielded clay-court titles in Monte Carlo, Madrid and Rome.

His most recent triumph in Rome meant he completed the full set of nine ATP Masters 1000 titles – known as the ‘career Golden Masters’.

Sinner dominated the opening two sets, with winners flowing from his racquet while unforced errors were kept to a minimum.

Tabur did not have a break point in the match as Sinner wrapped up victory in two hours and eight minutes.

Sinner’s path to the Coupe des Mousquetaires is already without one major obstacle because Alcaraz is absent – and seeds tumbled in his half of the draw on Tuesday.

Sixth seed Daniil Medvedev and ninth seed Alexander Bublik were defeated in the first round, while fourth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime needed a fifth-set tie-break to beat world number 57 Daniel Altmaier.

Auger-Aliassime is the next highest-ranked player in Sinner’s half of the draw, but the Canadian has lost his past five matches against the four-time major winner.

Up next for world number one Sinner is Argentina’s 56th-ranked Juan Manuel Cerundolo, who knocked out Great Britain’s Jacob Fearnley on Tuesday.

Jannik Sinner has broken Novak Djokovic’s all-time record of successive match wins at ATP Masters 1000 tournaments by recording the 32nd straight victory of his historic streak to reach the Italian Open semi-finals.

The Italian world number one overpowered 12th seed Andrey Rublev 6-2 6-4 to continue his bid to join Djokovic as only the second man to win all nine Masters 1000 titles – the sport’s highest level below the Grand Slams.

Sinner, 24, appears in unstoppable form before the French Open – the only major standing between him and a career Grand Slam – begins on 24 May.

He has joined Spanish great Rafael Nadal as the only other man to reach semi-finals at each of the first five Masters 1000 events in a season, and will face Russian Daniil Medvedev for a place in the showpiece final.

Seventh seed Medvedev lost the first five games against Spanish lucky loser Martin Landaluce as he conceded the opening set in just 26 minutes, but battled back to win 1-6 6-4 7-5 and reach his first semi-final in the clay-court swing.

“I don’t play for records. I play just for my own story,” Sinner told the crowd.

“At the same time, it means a lot to me. But tomorrow is another opponent, in different conditions – it’s a night match.

“Now the highest priority for me is trying to recover as much as I can physically.

“Emotionally it takes a lot playing here at home. At the same time, I’ll definitely try to do my best. It’s a win-win situation for me in any case. It was a good day today.”

World number one Jannik Sinner remains on course for a record fifth consecutive Masters 1,000 title after reaching the Madrid Open final with a straight-set win over Arthur Fils.

The Italian won his 22nd successive match to reach Sunday’s final, where he will face either second seed Alexander Zverev or unseeded Belgian Alexander Blockx.

Sinner, 24, has won the opening three ATP 1,000 events of the season – in Indian Wells, Miami and Monte Carlo – and also triumphed in Paris late last year.

The four-time Grand Slam winner broke twice to take the first set 6-2 against 21st seed Fils, who won the clay-court Barcelona Open two weeks ago.

Fils, 21, was 3-2 up in the second set having saved two break points, but Sinner finally broke to move 5-4 ahead and served out the match to progress 6-2 6-4.

Zverev and Blockx play their semi-final later on Friday.

Achieving a hold to love in the opening game, 30-year-old Norrie’s strong start faded quickly as Sinner broke twice to dominate the first set 6-2.

Each held serve until the fifth game when Norrie, having resisted a break point, attempted to seize momentum with an underarm serve but it failed to clear the net.

The Italian claimed the game, but Norrie broke back, winning seven successive points in his efforts to turn the tide in a first competitive meeting between the players.

At 5-5, the British number one survived two break points before surrendering the game to Sinner, who served out in the final game to become only the second player in tennis history to win the first 20 Masters 1000 matches of the season, after Novak Djokovic in 2011 and 2015.

“We know each other quite well. We practised a lot in the last tournament. We both kind of knew what to expect,” the four-time Grand Slam champion said of Norrie.

Speaking to Sky Sports, he added: “This surface is very very different to all the other surfaces so it’s very tough to get the right feedback and sometimes you feel like you are not playing your best.

“But I’m very happy to be in the quarters again, it’s a tournament I haven’t played a lot so it means a lot to me and I’m happy to be through in two sets.”

In the quarter-final he will play either Kopriva or Jodar, who meet later on Tuesday. The pair were given the afternoon slot after Jodar’s round of 32 win over Joao Fonseca finished late on Sunday night.

After playing at the “unusual” time of 11am local time (10:00 BST), Sinner questioned the way that the tournament is organised.

“[Jodar] finished very, very late [on Sunday], but at the same time I feel like we need to make some adjustments with scheduling of the day,” he said.

“For matches at 8pm, it’s very very late, even though you have one day in between – still, it’s very very late.

“You finish at 1.30am and you need to eat, you need to have treatment, so it’s very late. We try to adapt ourselves, our bodies and minds.”