Alexander Zverev called out for ‘over the top’ moment in Wimbledon final loss to Jannik Sinner

Richie Mills 14 Jul 2026 7:45 PM

Alexander Zverev looks on during his match

Alexander Zverev’s mentality has been criticised following his Wimbledon final loss to Jannik Sinner.

The 29-year-old has been high on confidence after finally ending his wait to win a maiden Grand Slam with his French Open triumph in June. The German had lost three finals in a row but finally prevailed in a five-set epic over Flavio Cobolli.

Prior to this year’s Wimbledon, Zverev had never made it past the fourth round at SW19 but this time out, he made it to the showpiece final before being beaten by Sinner in four sets.

The 6ft 6in player has now lost 10 times in a row to the Italian, with his last victory coming way back at the 2023 US Open. Moreover, Zverev still hasn’t broken Sinner’s serve since last October’s Vienna Open.

However, he did snap a 14-set losing streak to the five-time major winner, something he celebrated with real gusto. While he got that monkey off his back, Rennae Stubbs believes that was actually a sign of weakness from Zverev.

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First set, Zverev ✨#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/vbrOu5DtVs

— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 12, 2026

Stubbs said that while Zverev was hitting his forehand bigger than before, the German “lost his mind” after winning that first set. The Australian, who is part of Serena Williams’ coaching team, also felt his celebrations were a bit premature.

She said on the latest episode of The Rennae Stubbs Podcast, “That’s not going to change until he can hit that forehand when it really matters, not just on set point when he lost his mind when he won the first set.

“Remember he turned around to his players box and he was like ‘Come on!’. It was so over the top, I was like, ‘Dude, you’ve got two more sets to win against the best player in the world, calm down’.”

Stubbs also felt the writing was on the wall for Zverev when he made a forehand unforced error in the first point of the second set tie-break. The four-time doubles major winner also stressed that the all-time greats do not make bad errors on big points.

She added, “I felt like he felt he was going to win the tournament after that set and I was like, ‘Nah’. As soon as he missed that forehand in the second set tiebreak, that was it.”

Zverev’s recent good form has taken him to second in the rankings, ahead of Carlos Alcaraz, but comfortably behind Sinner.