Jannik Sinner beats 2-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz to win his first Wimbledon title

LONDON (AP) — Jannik Sinner insisted early on at Wimbledon that he put an excruciating loss to Carlos Alcaraz in their epic French Open final behind him.

Sinner was sure that one defeat wouldn’t haunt him, wouldn’t prevent a quick recalibration and certainly wouldn’t mean a thing at the All England Club.

Sure was right about all of that.

Exactly five weeks after the devastating defeat at Roland-Garros against his rival, Sinner reversed the result, defeating two-time defending Wimbledon champion Alcaraz 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 on Sunday to win his first championship at the grass-court major.

“At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter how you win or you lose the important tournaments. You just have to understand what you did wrong. Trying to work on that — that’s exactly what we did. We tried to accept the loss and then just kept working,” Sinner said Sunday, his shiny gold hardware in his hands. “And this is, for sure, why I’m holding this trophy here.”

The No. 1-ranked Sinner earned his fourth Grand Slam title overall, moving him one away from No. 2 Alcaraz’s total as the two no-longer-rising-but-firmly-established stars of the game separate themselves from the rest of the pack in men’s tennis.

Sinner, a 23-year-old Italian, put an end to several streaks for Alcaraz, a 22-year-old Spaniard.

Alcaraz had won their past five matches between the pair, most famously across five sets and nearly 5 1/2 hours on the red clay of the French Open on June 8. Sinner took a two-set lead, then held a trio of match points, but couldn’t close the deal.

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