THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 12, 2026

Jannik Sinner

Press Conference

J. SINNER/A. Zverev

6-7, 7-6, 6-3, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Welcome to the press conference for Wimbledon men's singles champion, Jannik Sinner.

Jannik, how satisfying does it feel to have defended your Wimbledon title?

JANNIK SINNER: Yeah, amazing, amazing achievement from my side. Very tough match today against Sascha. Feel like both very high level, because was not easy to play. Was very dusty, breezy. Very happy.

Of course, standing here again as champion means a lot to me.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You seemed quite emotional after the match point. How do you compare the emotions after this fifth Grand Slam title compared to the four first titles?

JANNIK SINNER: I think every Grand Slam is different, you know. Different story, different environment, different feelings before the tournament.

For me this one means a lot because was a tough one after Paris again. Last year was also tough. But coming here, I tried to put myself in the best possible position to be as competitive as possible.

Yeah, we put in a lot of workdays in Monaco, very, very long. Definitely sacrificing a lot of my time and everything to be in this position.

Having this achievement, it means a lot to me. Yeah, it was an amazing day today.

Q. You mentioned after the last month, even going back a year, especially after you beat Novak, you mentioned how nice to be back in a Grand Slam final. How much winning this felt like joy and elation, and also just relief?

JANNIK SINNER: I don't think it's relief, to be honest. The only thing I'm very happy is that I'm trying to do my best every day. Sometimes you have a tournament with a good outcome, and sometimes you just don't have. There's nothing you can really do about.

There is no failure if you don't win a Grand Slam. It's very, very rare days. Now I have five in my whole life. We talk about five Grand Slams. But end of the day, it's five days of so many other days.

You just want to enjoy it. Today was a very tough day. If I lose, it's still a great day. Playing a Grand Slam final, it's so rare and so special.

So for me, I never take things for granted. Of course, if I choose, I choose this outcome, but at the end of the day, it's always two players.

Big, big respect to Sascha, because he's doing something amazing. His game is growing and growing. In the same time, that's exactly what's good, because you have always someone who is pushing you to the limit. We hope that Carlos is coming back, as well, because tennis needs him. Having Novak still around, having all the young players coming, it's really, really nice.

At the same time, you always need to work hard and have moments like this.

Q. You only faced one breakpoint in four hours. How do you stay so focused?

JANNIK SINNER: I don't know (smiling). It's just staying in the moment, to be honest. If you lose serve once, the set is over, most likely. Especially playing against Sascha. Against the best players in the world, you need to be very careful on your own service games.

I have improved throughout the whole tournament. If you see the performance from the first two, three matches, then how I ended the tournament, it has been always growing. That's exactly what I needed. I was looking for this improvement, a player improvement, from my side. We made it happen.

Of course, mentally you need to make the switch, as well, to be able to do so. But I'm very happy how I handled the situation, especially this year. Yeah, now it's time to enjoy.

Q. Would you agree with the assessment that your decisive weapon in both matches both against Novak and Sascha was your return?

JANNIK SINNER: I think tennis is more about confidence. When you feeling confident, you feel that playing tennis is easier in that way.

I always think it's easier to return if you know mentally that you can hold serve, so you are a little bit freer to return as good as you can. In the same time, against Sascha, when he's serving like this, he's really, really tough to break, especially on a surface like this.

I tried to understand, especially in the important moments, second-set tiebreak, trying to understand where is he going. It was still very close, even though it was 7-2. When you change on 4-2, you know you have to make this point with my own serve, because if not, it's 4-3. With big servers, you can be 5-4 down.

Of course, the return is so important, as well. From my point of view, it's more important trying to keep the service games, and then you see what's coming with the return game.

Q. Last year when we spoke, you said you weren't sure what to say to the royal family. Was it easier this time around? Can you share what you said? Any chance you'll give Princess Charlotte a tennis lesson, because she's a big fan of the sport?

JANNIK SINNER: It was not easier (smiling). So much respect, so I never know where the line is.

No, I think you can really see that they love the sport. This is exactly how we feel as players on court when we see them watching tennis. Staying there for four hours under the sun with the heat, it's really nice.

I asked the kids if they still play. They are very happy, yes, they do. We had a very, very small conversation.

But I love it. That they also take time to talk with me, it's something really, really nice. Having the whole Royal Box there, as well, the whole people staying for a match like this for four-ish hours, it's amazing.

That's also the reason why we love to play tennis.

Q. I wanted to ask you what made the difference this match, in your opinion? Till 3-3 in the third, it was like a draw in football. Did you think at some point the slip had an influence?

JANNIK SINNER: I don't know. We talk about very small details. We started the match was, I don't say hot, but the conditions were very warm, but it was also windy, and it was really tough to break, especially from the side where the Royal Box is, because you played against the wind. For me personally, it was very tough to return.

Then at some point, the sun went down, so you couldn't see very well the ball, as well. I tried to understand where the best position would be to return his serve, but it's so difficult that you can stand very close, but also very far. If he serves like this, it's so tough to get into the rally.

I had my chances, I felt like, in the third set in the beginning, was Love-30, where I made a couple of wrong choices. That's tennis, because you cannot be perfect for four hours, five hours.

Honestly, I just tried to accept the situation and be as present as possible with the right attitude. I think this today was the biggest key, to be honest.

Still felt like he was moving quite well after he slipped. I don't know. You need to ask him how he feel.

Q. The wind, how did you adjust? Also, were you surprised by the level of his forehand? I thought it was as good as ever in the first two sets.

JANNIK SINNER: I mean, I could see also from outside playing him, when he was playing other matches, that the forehand, he was hitting very fast. He is a very, very tricky player to play against, because you can have several games where you don't touch the ball because he's serving so well. Then when he has the ball, now he is trying to make so much damage.

Wind was there at moments. Fourth set was okay. I felt like when the sun went down, also the wind went down, for some reason.

Is really, really tough. This is the reason now why he won Grand Slam, why he's so close to what he's doing everything now.

Yeah, he's improving a lot. I'm very happy for him. I know how much he works. His family, as well. It's good for the sport. Yeah, let's see for the next one.