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Jim Courier Explains What Went Wrong for Carlos Alcaraz During Tense Wimbledon Final Against Jannik Sinner

Originally posted on FirstSportz | By Gouri Das | Last updated Jul 15, 2025 4:08 PM ET

Carlos Alcaraz failed to complete his Channel Slam for the second consecutive season. Had he defeated Jannik Sinner in the Wimbledon final, he would have become the second man in the Open Era to win the French Open and Wimbledon for consecutive times after Bjorn Borg.

Alcaraz would have also become the fifth man in the Open Era to win three consecutive Wimbledon trophies following Borg, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer, and Novak Djokovic. Last month, he defended his French Open title by overcoming Sinner in an epic French Open final.

This time, he found himself in a similar position. Sinner led 5-4 and 40-0 in the fourth set. But instead of squandering his championship points, he capitalized on the lead, avoiding a repeat of the French Open final. Former player Jim Courier gave his take on what went wrong for Alcaraz during that match. He said on Tennis Channel Live:

He wasn’t able to use the slice backhand as much as I had anticipated. You talked about how he didn’t really use the drop shot to great effect. He did early in the match, caught Sinner off guard a few times, but then Jannik was on to it. It was played a little too staccato for Carlos. It needed to have a little bit more variation.

Sinner has improved his head-to-head record over the five-time Grand Slam champion to 5-8. It was also his first victory after five consecutive defeats to the Spaniard. Sinner also now holds a 1-1 win-loss record over his arch-rival in the Grand Slam finals.

It was the four-time Grand Slam champion’s second title of the season after the Australian Open which he defended by beating Alexander Zverev. Alcaraz, on the other hand, was playing his seventh final and chasing his sixth title of the season following his victories in Rotterdam, Monte Carlo, Rome, Paris, and at the Queen’s, which made him a grass-court champion for the fourth time in his career.

Jannik Sinner admits he got lucky after Grigor Dimitrov handed him the walkover

Grigor Dimitrov was the first player at Wimbledon to take a set off Jannik Sinner. He did it twice, in the first two sets, in the fourth round.

Sinner was on the verge of defeat but the Bulgarian ace suffered a pectoral muscle injury while smashing an ace during the third set. It forced him to hand Sinner the walkover. The 23-year-old later admitted that he got lucky during that fourth round.

Yes, I got lucky. Against Grigor, things were turning out very difficult, but it’s not the way you want to win a match. It’s all about, at times, to take the chance, and I took it. And then after, at some point, I really started to play well, especially against Ben. And then this confidence helped me to go through Novak [Djokovic] which is very, very difficult, in Grand Slams especially.
Jannik Sinner said during the Wimbledon Champions’ Dinner

En route to his victory over Alcaraz, the World No.1 stopped Djokovic’s campaign in the semifinals, denying the Serb his seventh consecutive appearance in the Wimbledon final. It was Djokovic who Alcaraz defeated in the previous two seasons in the finals at SW19.

Had Sinner beaten Alcaraz in the French Open final, he would have completed the Career Grand Slam after his Wimbledon win. Both the players, after a few off days, will shift their focus to the North American hard-court swing.

Sinner last year lifted the Cincinnati Masters and his first US Open by beating home favorites Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz, respectively. Alcaraz had suffered early exits in both the tournaments he played in the American continent.

This article first appeared on FirstSportz and was syndicated with permission.

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