Sinner banishes Roland Garros demons to de-throne Alcaraz at Wimbledon

LONDON :When Jannik Sinner arrived at three match points in the fourth set of his Wimbledon final against Carlos Alcaraz on Sunday, the memory of what happened five weeks ago in Paris was flashing through the minds of everyone inside Centre Court.

Everyone, perhaps, except world number one Sinner, who managed to banish any lurking demons from the darkest recesses of his brain to seal a 4-6 6-4 6-4 6-4 victory and become the first Italian Wimbledon singles champion.

Just as on the Parisian clay, 23-year-old Sinner was the better player for long periods. Just as at Roland Garros he had the title in his hands.

But unlike that day when three consecutive match points vanished in the fourth set and Alcaraz roared back to win the longest French Open final ever, this time the ice-cool Sinner was never going to be denied.

Alcaraz, whose bid to become only the fifth man in the professional era to win three successive Wimbledon titles was watched from the Royal Box by Spain's King Felipe, saved one match point.

But this time there was no escape for Alcaraz as Sinner fired down an unreturnable serve.

There were no ecstatic celebrations. Sinner raised his arms to the sky, before consoling the man he de-throned and headed off in time-honoured fashion to embrace those in his box.

"Back in the days when I was young, this was only a dream, because it was so far away from where I'm from," the man from the Dolomites who could have been a top skier, said on court.

"Emotionally I had a very tough loss in Paris. So I'm very happy that I held my nerves and yeah, it's an amazing feeling.

While Sunday's duel contained some mind-boggling points, it lacked the twists of last month's Roland Garros roller-coaster.

It did, though, underline why the