Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner set for Wimbledon rematch of French epic

WIMBLEDON, England – The park where Wimbledon hosts the Queue was a madhouse on day one this year.

The famous line in which fans can wait for inexpensive tickets to the tournament has a storied history, thanks mostly to the tent village the die-hards set up a few days in advance to ensure a good spot. The previous few years, it had been lively, but not so crowded, thinned partly in the wake of some of the sport’s most famous faces hanging up their rackets.

But this year, the Queue was swarmed during the first week of the tournament; attendance was up; and here’s what feels like a solid theory: Everyone was still buzzing from that 5-hour, 29-minute French Open men’s singles final that took place just three weeks before Wimbledon began.

World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz’s comeback victory against No. 1 Jannik Sinner made a Grand Slam final feel like a spectacle again, an event not to be missed.

Thirty-five days after “Sincaraz” Part I, must-see TV gets a rerun Sunday.

Alcaraz and Sinner prevailed in their respective semifinals Friday at Wimbledon to set up a championship rematch with the stakes raised just a hair because it will be on the most prestigious stage in the sport.

Sinner, a hard-court master, will play his first Wimbledon final, while Alcaraz is attempting to become the fifth man in the Open era to win three consecutive titles at the All England Club.

The 22-year-old from Spain punched past fifth-seeded American Taylor Fritz, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (8-6), a triumph of manipulation in which he dictated the match from the first point.

His 23-year-old Italian rival then cruised to a 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 win against seven-time Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic, who took a medical timeout after the second set.

Djokovic took a hard fall near the end of his quarterfinal match Wednesday and said Friday he played Sinner “quite a bit” physically compromised.

Sinner’s win deprived Djokovic of a chance to play for a record 25th Grand Slam title – and to avenge two consecutive losses to Alcaraz in the final here. While Djokovic was visibly frustrated by another injury, he said this would not be his last Wimbledon.

“I’m planning to come back definitely at least one more time, play on the Centre Court for sure,” Djokovic said, before explaining how taxing playing repeated best-of-five set matches has become. He won one title this year, the 100th of his career, at a tournament three levels below a Grand Slam, and one title in 2024, the gold medal at the Paris Olympics.

“It’s just age, the wear and tear of the body,” Djokovic said. “As much as I’m taking care of it, the reality hits me right now, last year and a half, like never before, to be honest. … I reached the semis of every slam this year, but I have to play Sinner or Alcaraz. These guys are fit, young, sharp. I feel like I’m going into the match with tank half-empty.”

Sinner, as Djokovic noted, seemed perfectly fit despite playing with heavy tape and a compression sleeve over his injured right elbow for the second straight match. The Italian is just the sixth player in the Open era to make the final of four consecutive Grand Slams – he won in Australia this year and at the U.S. Open in 2024 to supplement his Australian Open title in 2023.

Sunday is Sinner’s first chance to win a title on a surface other than hard court.

He’ll have to get past the tour’s most artful grass-court player to do so. The pair has played just one of their 12 meetings on grass, at Wimbledon in 2022, but Alcaraz said both players have evolved so much that he won’t even watch that match to look for clues on how to best his rival. If Alcaraz floats on clay and Sinner sparkles on hard court, grass may prove an equalizer.

“The movement that Jannik has on grass is unbelievable,” Alcaraz said. “He’s sliding like he’s playing on clay, from both legs.”

Sinner has yet to drop a set this tournament and has lost just four games on his serve – three of which came in the wacky fourth-round match in which Sinner fell and hurt his elbow before his opponent, Grigor Dimitrov, retired because of injury.

Alcaraz, meantime, occasionally has meandered through his matches. He played a five-set match against the veteran Fabio Fognini in the first round and logged three other four-setters.

All credit to Fritz – Friday’s bout lasted mainly because of the American’s refusal to fade. But for perhaps the first time this tournament, Alcaraz’s focus never broke.

The five-time Grand Slam champion set the tone from the first point of the match, which he won with a signature drop shot. He broke Fritz, one of the game’s biggest servers, to take the opening game then mostly matched Fritz for speed when serving, winning 88% of points on his first serve throughout the match. Fritz’s normally lyrical grass-court tennis fell flat in response.

“A lot of the things that I would have changed I think would have only helped me for a point or two, and then I think Carlos would have just made an adjustment,” Fritz said, “and I don’t think it would have been a long-term answer.”

On Sunday, Alcaraz and Sinner will take an already magnificent rivalry to new heights. They will be just the fifth pair in history to contest the men’s singles final at both the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year and the second to do so in the Open era. The other duo was Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.

Alcaraz relishes high-stakes matches such as these, with history on the line. He still finds himself thinking about the moment he won the French Open last month, and calls it the best match he’s ever played.

“I’m not surprised he just pushed me to the limit. I expect that on Sunday … I just hope not to be five hours and a half on court again,” Alcaraz said. “But as I said: If I have to, I will.”