Darren Cahill Reveals the Importance for Jannik Sinner to Break the Losing Streak Against Carlos Alcaraz at Wimbledon

Entering the tournament as the two-time defending champion, Carlos Alcaraz was the strong favorite to clinch the Wimbledon title this year. He met Jannik Sinner in the finals, entering the match leading the head-to-head record 8-4 against the Italian, having won their previous five encounters.

The most notable of these encounters was their Roland Garros final last month, which was perhaps one of the most thrilling Grand Slam finals in history. This five set battle, which marked the longest final in the history of the tournament, witnessed Alcaraz come from two sets and three championship points down to defend his title.

However, the grass was greener on Sinner’s side at Wimbledon, who got a glorious redemption after the heartbreaking Roland Garros final. Although it wasn’t the five-set battle that fans were hoping for, it was nonetheless a beautiful match where Sinner dethroned Alcaraz with a scoreline of 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. He snapped Alcaraz’s 24 match-win streak and ended his quest for an elusive second Channel Slam, and three-peat at SW19.

Speaking about this this shift in momentum in their rivalry, Sinner’s coach Darren Cahill said during the post-match press conference:

Today was important to win for many, many reasons. Carlos has dominated him in their last five matches. They have played amazing matches, and Jannik had opportunities in perhaps four out of five matches they played to beat him. He hadn’t been able to get the win. So today was important not only because it was a Grand Slam final, not only because it was Wimbledon, and not only because Carlos had won the last five matches against him. Today he needed that victory.

This victory marks a huge turnaround and confidence boost for Sinner who defeated Alcaraz on the Spaniard’s best surface, and also won his maiden Grand Slam title outside of hard court, building himself as an all surface player. Speaking about how Sinner clinched this victory, Cahill further added:

He was aware of the importance of closing the match when he had the chance. That’s why I think we saw a bit more energy in crucial moments and a bit more focus to tighten his grip and make sure that when he had the match under control, he kept closing the door on Carlos. Today, he did an incredible job.

This also marks his first title after the three-month doping suspension which he had to face due to testing positive twice for clostebol last year. Sinner is the first Italian to win a Wimbledon title. The 23-year-old has now won multiple Grand Slams in consecutive seasons, defending his Australian Open title earlier this year. And clinching the US Open title last year as well.

Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner’s rivalry

World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz and World No. 1 Jannik Sinner have met seven times on hard court, four times on clay, and two times on grass. On hard-court, Alcaraz leads 5-2 against Sinner on the Italian’s best surface. Their first career meeting also took place on hard court at the Paris Masters in 2021, where Alcaraz triumphed.