The Ladies Final looked like it was going to follow the Wimbledon Final of 2025 which ended in very one-sided fashion.
Linda Noskova had so many opportunities to win in the second set, but she just failed to get over the line and all credit has to be given to her for rallying and winning the Championship in the deciding set.
The big question for Noskova is whether she can push on from this success and, at 21 years old, there is every chance she can do that, but the recent Women's Champions have not always been able to do that. This continues to mean that there is every opportunity available for every player that enters a Grand Slam draw on this side and the US Open is going to be another big chance for so many to pick up a Major.
It is over to the Men on Sunday and the top of this side of the sport is very healthy- Carlos Alcaraz holds two Grand Slam titles, but there are serious doubts about when he will be able to return to action having missed the French Open and Wimbledon and also withdrawn from the Canadian Masters.
Alexander Zverev holds the French Open and Jannik Sinner will be heading into this Final as the defending Champion here at Wimbledon.
Opportunities outside of these three players are much tougher to find, although Novak Djokovic will have something to say about that, and it can sometimes make the early Rounds less dramatic compared with the Women's events. Some of the top ATP players will be able to hold their head up amongst the historical giants of the sport, especially if they can continue to churn out the Majors like the Big Three before them, but that is perhaps not the case with the very best WTA players who feel like they are very strong, but lacking the kind of consistency that was last displayed by Serena Williams at her best.
Can Linda Noskova move through and join the elite players on the Tour and kick on from there? That is to be seen over the next twelve months before she opens Centre Court on Day 2 of the 2027 Wimbledon, but the most immediate concern of the sport is finding out who will be opening the main show Court at SW19 on Day 1 next year.
Wimbledon was a really tough tournament for the Tennis Picks, but the last few days have proven to be a really strong bounce back effort and the tournament can be concluded with a profit with a Day 14 winner, or a very narrow loss with a losing selection.
At one stage it felt like all of the work from the opening six months of the season would be wasted and so a slight loss would still feel like a positive from where the Picks were earlier this week, although of course any selection being made is with the belief it can return a winner.
Over the remainder of the month, the European clay court swing and some of the early hard court tournaments will be played before moving into the two Masters events ahead of the US Open.
Sunday will be exactly seven weeks until the final Grand Slam of the 2026 season is to begin and there is plenty of tennis to get through before the US Open gets going in New York City.
Jannik Sinner - 5.5 games v Alexander Zverev: The defending Champion has perhaps not looked at his very best through the run back to the Final here at Wimbledon, but Jannik Sinner will have taken plenty of confidence from the way he was able to beat seven time former Winner Novak Djokovic in the Semi Final.
2026 has not been the season that the World Number One may have anticipated having yet to reach a Grand Slam Final and losing very early at the French Open, but Jannik Sinner is very comfortable on the grass. He has shown that again with another strong run at Wimbledon and Jannik Sinner has an opportunity to win a first Grand Slam since doing that right here twelve months ago, while perhaps underlining his status as the top player in the world.
A real argument could be made that Alexander Zverev is the current best player in the world if he is to back up the French Open success by winning a Grand Slam on his worst surface.
He has previously won titles on the grass, but Alexander Zverev had never reached the Quarter Final at Wimbledon before this season and the French Open success last month has clearly given the Number 2 Seed a real sense of belonging with the very best. You could say Alexander Zverev felt that before Paris, but this is a player who played within himself at key moments in the biggest matches and winning the French Open will have freed the mind.
Jannik Sinner had to come through in five sets in the First Round, while Alexander Zverev dropped a set in the opening Round too, but in the main both players have been pretty comfortable. There will be no excuses about fitness concerns after straight set Semi Final wins and the tennis being played by Jannik Sinner and Alexander Zverev has been at a level that makes them more than deserving Finalists.
The serve is going to be a big weapon for both Sinner and Zverev and they will need to maintain the levels that has seen them win at least 70% of service points in every match at the tournament. It can be argued that they have not faced someone who can return the ball as effectively as the other standing across the net, but these two players have to focus on themselves and that delivery will set them up to get through plenty of games without too much pressure being applied on them.
Out of the two players, Jannik Sinner has been the more consistent returner, but the Zverev serve can be a huge shot for the Number 2 Seed.
The raw numbers at this tournament have been really similar, but the mental advantage is clearly with Jannik Sinner who has dominated Alexander Zverev since the early meetings on the Tour.
Alexander Zverev had led 4-2 on the head to head, but they have played eight times since January 2025 and it is Jannik Sinner who has won all eight of those, beginning with a straight sets win in the Australian Open Final. That is the sole meeting in the last nineteen months in a Grand Slam event, but they have played in big Masters tournaments and Jannik Sinner will know that he has won all but a single set in the eight matches won by the Italian since the start of the 2025 season.
This simply cannot be ignored- four matches in 2026 have all ended in straight sets wins for Jannik Sinner which includes two on the hard court and two on the clay courts.
None of those meetings have been on grass, but this is a surface on which Jannik Sinner has had a lot more success than Alexander Zverev and the serve has been dominated by the top Seed during the last nineteen months.
In those eight matches played in that time, Jannik Sinner has held 99% of his service games with a single break given away and just 14 Break Points faced. Compare that to Alexander Zverev who has held 71% of service games played and been broken twenty-four times, while facing 49 Break Points and it is very tough to make a case for the French Open Champion being able to follow the likes of Bjorn Borg and Rafael Nadal in completing the Channel Grand Slam Double.
Alexander Zverev has proven he is going to be a threat to win Grand Slams going forward by becoming the first player to back up his maiden Major success by reaching the Final of the next Slam played, but Jannik Sinner should be the stronger grass court player. He can maintain his dominance of this opponent with another strong showing and Jannik Sinner can win his second Wimbledon title in succession on Sunday afternoon.
MY PICK: Jannik Sinner - 5.5 Games @ 2.10 William Hill (2 Units)
Wimbledon Update: 41-34, + 0.26 Units (148 Units Staked, + 0% Yield)
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