‘Here’s why Alexander Zverev may steal Wimbledon title from Jannik Sinner’
Alexander Zverev may be able to ‘steal’ the Wimbledon title from Jannik Sinner, according to former Great Britain Davis Cup captain Leon Smith.
The German has reached the final of the grass-court Grand Slam just weeks after winning his maiden major title at this year’s French Open.
Zverev has enjoyed a relatively straightforward route to the championship match, dropping just two sets throughout the tournament.
Prior to this year’s edition, he had never advanced beyond the fourth round at Wimbledon.
However, his toughest challenge awaits in the final, where he will face world No 1 Sinner for the 15th time.
The Italian has dominated their recent rivalry, winning each of their last nine meetings to build a commanding 10-4 head-to-head advantage.
Despite that record, Smith believes Zverev has the weapons to ‘steal’ the match and claim his second Grand Slam title in as many tournaments.
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“The win at Roland Garros was massive for him, because he is going to take the confidence from that, but Sinner is a step up for him,” said Smith during an interview on BBC Radio 5 Live.
“You’ve just gone through the ranking points, there is a reason for that deficit, and there is a reason for that head-to-head as well, so I think [Jannik] Sinner goes in, obviously as favourite.”
“But the one thing [Alexander] Zverev can do, he can serve unreal,” he said.
“He’s serving amazing. Today, his serving was off the charts.
“His forehand was really good today, and that’s going to be so important for him, because Sinner will be looking to break that down as much as possible.
“But the key for Zverev in the final on Sunday is, take care of business on your serve and see if you can maybe get to tiebreaks and see if you can steal it that way.”
Sinner is the defending Wimbledon champion, having defeated Carlos Alcaraz in four sets in last year’s final.
Like Zverev, the Italian has dropped just two sets on his way to this year’s final, with both coming during his five-set first-round victory over Miomir Kecmanovic.
The world No. 1 produced arguably his best performance of the fortnight in the semi-finals, dispatching seven-time champion Novak Djokovic 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to extend his winning run over the Serbian to six victories in their last seven meetings.
“I’m not sure he’d [Sinner] have been expecting that sort of outcome, really,” analysed Smith.
“The performance was amazing, really, two hours, 20 on the clock, that is phenomenally good for Sinner.
“Everything came together today.”
Former world No. 4 Pat Cash also praised Sinner’s level against the tennis legend, saying the Italian “went to another level” during the semi-final.
“The level was different,” the Australian said.
“You see that with these champions, Rafa [Nadal] has done it, Carlos Alcaraz has done it, and Novak [Djokovic], of course, and these other players, [Roger] Federer has always cruised through the first rounds, and his level doesn’t really dip that much.
“But some of these players, when it comes to the semi-finals, they just hit another level, and you know, full credit to Jannik Sinner, he just went to another level.”
