Second-serve battle: How the Wimbledon final was won
Sinner dominated both sides of the second-serve dynamic on Sunday
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Razor-thin margins separate Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, as evidenced by their three-hour, four-minute battle in the Wimbledon final on Sunday.
Often it is Alcaraz’s ability to play big points well that sees the Spaniard come out on top. But this time, second serves were the deciding factor that led to Sinner gaining his first win in six attempts against his rival.
Sinner won 60 per cent of his own second serves, while claiming 49 per cent of Alcaraz’s. This statistic was made more prominent by the fact that Alcaraz’s first-serve percentage was on the low side (53 per cent), meaning more points were played on his second serve as well.
Overall, the Italian earned 28 of his 125 total points on his opponent’s second serve (22.4 per cent), while Alcaraz only won 18 of 113 points on Sinner’s (15.9 per cent).
Sinner’s baseline domination set up by return
After the match, Alcaraz candidly admitted that the second serve dynamic was a crucial battleground in the match.
“I think the big key was about the second serve,” he said.
“He was returning really well there the second serve that I was hitting. Thanks to that, he was in the position to attack in the second ball every time. So it was really difficult when you are feeling that you just defending all the time and running from side to side all the time.
“At some points I didn’t know what I had to do in the match because from the baseline I was feeling he was better than me, and I couldn’t do anything about it.”
Alcaraz rues not making more inroads on return
Notably, in each of Alcaraz’s last five wins over Sinner, the Italian hasn’t served well. That wasn’t the case on Sunday, and it shifted the nature of the match.
“Okay, he has a big first serve. That’s obvious,” Alcaraz explained. “I just tried to return or win point from the first set, that it is more difficult.
“But when you’re have the chance to return a second serve, I had to do more with those points. I had to return better. I had to try to be in the position of attack after the return.
“I just felt he was serving really or quite easily, and he was winning his serve game quite easily. Because of that, it wasn’t push him, you know, to have nerves on the service game. So I think I have to be better on that.
“Overall, it was a great match. I think the level from the baseline was really high. I think that was the big difference between both of us today.”
Given the separation Sinner and Alcaraz have created between themselves and the rest of the ATP Tour, it’s unlikely that the pair will go too long before meeting again. If Alcaraz is to regain his ascendancy over the world No 1, he’ll need to make some adjustments in both serve and return.
