'It took me a few hours to get over the defeat': Carlos Alcaraz eyes redemption against Jannik Sinner after Wimbledon heartbreak

Carlos Alcaraz recalled the Wimbledon final he lost to Jannik Sinner, a match where the Italian ended a five-match losing streak against the Spaniard. Alcaraz, 22, failed to defend the title he won in 2023 and 2024 and saw Sinner end his 20-match winning streak at the All England Club.

The rivalry between Alcaraz and Sinner takes on new dimensions in this hardcourt swing after Sinner narrowed the gap in their head-to-head, which Alcaraz leads 8-5. The Spaniard had won the finals of the Rome Open and the French Open consecutively, saving three match points in the latter.

On grass courts and in the midst of the most notable streak of his career—more than two months without a loss and 24 consecutive wins—it seemed that Alcaraz was in an unbeatable position to win his sixth Grand Slam title. However, Sinner played his best tennis to win the match with a score of 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.

Facing their return to the courts at the Cincinnati Open, Alcaraz admitted that it was difficult to overcome the tough defeat at Wimbledon, but he commented that he is proud of the result he achieved—for reaching another final—and he praised Sinner for the growing rivalry they have built.

“We have both accomplished very important things in a very short time,” the world No. 2 said. “I am very happy to see the rivalry we are building, and I think we still have years ahead of us to continue this way. We have to let people talk about us; I don’t think about it too much; we’ll see how far we go.”

“It was a new situation for me to lose a Grand Slam final, but you have to be ready for that,” he added. “Obviously, I never wanted it to happen, but I left the court proud and happy, smiling and thinking that it had to happen one day, because all tennis players in history have experienced this.”

“It took me a few hours to get over the defeat, knowing that I have a lot of things to improve. I could only feel grateful for having experienced a final at Wimbledon; I left proud of what I accomplished.”

Looking ahead to the North American hardcourt swing

Cincinnati will be the first hardcourt tournament where Sinner and Alcaraz will meet after the Wimbledon final. They enter as the top two seeds in the tournament, so a potential showdown could only happen in an eventual final. In their previous three tournaments where they were both in the main draw, they ended up facing each other in the final: Alcaraz with wins in Rome and Roland Garros on clay courts, and Sinner at Wimbledon on grass courts.

Both players decided to skip the Canadian Open in Toronto and will have Cincinnati as their only stop before the US Open. Sinner is the defending champion in both tournaments, while the battle for world No. 1 is tightening. If the Italian fails to defend the points from both titles—a total of 3,000—it will be an uphill battle to stay at the top of the rankings.

Alcaraz only accumulated 10 points at the Cincinnati Open and 50 points at the US Open back in 2024. The Spaniard is still 3,430 points away from Sinner, who is in second place. Currently, Sinner has 12,030 points and Alcaraz has 8,600. However, from now until the end of the US Open, Sinner's score will drop to 9,030, while Alcaraz will maintain his at 8,540.

In fact, the Spaniard is ahead in the ATP Race by more than 1,500 points and will have a chance to regain the world No. 1 spot at the upcoming US Open, a tournament he won in 2022 and of which Sinner is the defending champion.