Jannik Sinner looks forward to Carlos Alcaraz' return — Final Press Conference — Wimbledon 2026

[0:00] Thank you. Welcome to the press conference for Wimbledon men's singles champion Yannick Sinner. [0:11] Please raise your hand if you would like to ask a question. [0:14] Yannick, how satisfying does it feel to have defended your Wimbledon title? [0:19] Yeah, amazing. Amazing achievement from my side. [0:23] Very tough match today against Sasha. [0:26] Felt like both very high level because it was not easy to play. [0:30] It was very dusty, breezy, so I'm very happy and, of course, standing here again as champion means a lot to me. [0:39] Congratulations. You seem quite emotional after the match point. [0:42] So how do you compare the emotions after this fifth Grand Slam title compared to the four first titles? [0:48] I think every Grand Slam is different, you know, a different story, different environment, different feelings before the tournament. [0:55] And for me, this one means a lot because it was a tough one after Paris again, because last year was also tough. [1:09] By coming here, you know, I tried to put myself in the best possible position to be as competitive as possible. [1:16] And, yeah, this is, we put in a lot of work days in Monaco, very, very long and definitely sacrificing a lot of my time and everything to be in this position, you know. [1:32] So having this achievement means a lot to me. [1:36] And, yeah, it was an amazing day today. [1:40] Well done, Yannick. I'm curious, like you mentioned after the last month and even, I guess, nine months or even a year going back and especially after you beat Novak, [1:54] you mentioned how nice it was just to be back in a Grand Slam final. [1:58] I'm sort of curious how much, how much winning this felt like sort of joy and elation and also just relief given. [2:06] I don't, I don't think it's relief, you know, to be honest. I mean, if I, the only thing I'm very happy is that I'm trying to do my best every day, you know. [2:18] And sometimes you have a tournament with a good outcome and sometimes you just don't have, you know, there's nothing you can really do about it. [2:25] And there is no failure if you, if you don't win a Grand Slam, you know, it's, it's very, very rare days. [2:33] And now I had five in my, my whole life. We talk about five Grand Slams, but at the end of the day, these are five days of so many other days. [2:43] And you just want to enjoy it, you know, and, you know, today was a very tough day. [2:50] If I lose, it's still a great day, you know, playing a Grand Slam final. It's, it's so rare and so special. [2:56] And so for me, I never take things for granted. Of course, if I choose, I choose this outcome. [3:04] But, you know, at the end of the day, there are always two players and big, big respect to Sascha because he's doing something amazing. [3:11] You know, his, his game is growing and growing. So, you know, at the same time, that's exactly what, what's good, you know, [3:20] because you have so always someone who is pushing you to the limit. And we hope that Carlos is coming back as well [3:27] because then it needs him, you know, and having Novak still around and having all the young players coming, [3:33] it's, it's really, really nice. And, but at the same time, you always need to work hard and hard and, and to, to have moments like this. [3:43] Congratulations. Congratulations, Janik. Another really impressive performance, especially on your serve. [3:49] You know, it was almost four hours long and you only face one break point. How do you stay so focused? [3:55] No, I mean, I don't know. It's just staying in the moment, you know, to be honest, because if you lose serve once, [4:08] the set is over most likely, especially playing against Sascha and, and against the best players in the world, [4:15] you need to be very careful on your own service games. And I have improved throughout the whole tournament. [4:21] You know, if you see the performance from the first two or three matches and then how I ended the tournament, [4:29] you know, it has been always growing and that's exactly what I needed. You know, that was, I was, [4:34] I was looking for this improvement, especially, you know, a player improvement from my side and we made it happen. [4:40] So, of course, mentally it's, you need to make the switch as well, you know, to be able to do so. [4:46] But I'm very happy how I handled the situation, especially this year. And, and yeah, now it's time to enjoy. [4:55] Congratulations, champion. Would you agree with the assessment that your decisive weapon in both matches, [5:02] both against Nova and Vega and Sascha was your return? [5:06] Well, I think, I think tennis is, it's more about, you know, confidence. And when you feel in confidence, [5:22] you feel that playing tennis is easier, you know, in that way. And I, I always think it's easier to return [5:32] if you know mentally that you can hold serve, you know, so you are a little bit freer, you know, to, [5:38] to return as good as you can. But in the same time, against Sascha, when you serve me like this, [5:43] it's really, really tough to break, especially in a service like this. So I try to, you know, [5:49] understand, especially in the more important moments, second set, I break, you know, trying to [5:54] understand where is he going. And it was still very close, even though it was 7-2. But, you know, [6:01] when, when you change on 4-2, you know, that you have to make this point, you know, with my own serve, [6:06] because if not, it's 4-3, you know, with big servers, you have 5-4 down, you know, so it's really tough. [6:11] But I think, of course, the return is so important as well. But from my point of view, [6:17] it's more important trying to keep the service games and then you see what's coming with the return game. [6:25] Congratulations. Last year when we spoke, excuse me, you said you weren't sure what to say to the royal family. [6:31] And I just wondered, was it easier this time round? And are you able to share a bit about what you've said? [6:38] And is there any chance you've given Princess Charlotte a tennis lesson because she's a big fan of the sport? [6:43] It was not easier. You know, I have so much respect, you know, so I don't, I never know where the line is. [6:55] But, you know, I think, you know, you can really see that, you know, they love the sport and this is exactly how we feel as players on court [7:05] when we see them, you know, watching tennis and, you know, staying there for four hours, you know, under the sun with the heat. [7:14] And it's really nice. And, you know, I asked the kids if they still play and they are very happy as they do. [7:20] And we had a very, very small conversation, but I love it, you know, so that they also take time to talk with me. [7:30] And it's something really, really nice. And having the whole, you know, the royal box there as well [7:37] and the whole people, you know, staying for a match like this for four-ish hours, it's amazing. [7:44] And that's also the reason why we love to play tennis. [7:48] Cedric? [7:48] Merci, Yannick. [7:51] I just wanted to ask you what made the difference in this match, in your opinion, because till 3-3 in the third, [7:59] it was like a draw in football. Every start was every tight. [8:05] Did you think that at some point the slip had an influence? [8:07] Did you came up with more intention? Did you win the self-return battle? [8:12] What made this tiny difference that made you take the lead at this moment? [8:17] I know we talk about very small details and, you know, we started the match was, I don't say hot, [8:29] but the conditions were very warm, but it was also windy. [8:32] And it was really tough to break, especially from the side where the royal box is, [8:38] because you played against the wind. So it was, for me, personally, very tough to return. [8:44] Then at some point, you know, the sun went down, so you couldn't see very well the ball as well. [8:49] So I tried to understand where the best position would be to return his serve, [8:58] but it's so difficult because you can stand, you know, very close, but also very far. [9:03] If he serves like this, it's so tough to get into the rally. [9:08] I had my chances. I felt like in the third set in the beginning was a lap 30 where I made, you know, [9:15] a couple of wrong choices, but that's tennis because you cannot be perfect for four hours, five hours. [9:21] Honestly, I just tried to accept the situation and be as present as possible with the right attitude. [9:29] And I think this today was the biggest key, to be honest. [9:32] And still felt like he was moving quite well after he slipped. [9:38] But I don't know, you need to ask him how he feel. [9:40] Last English question. [9:43] I was about to ask you about the wind, because we had more wind since the beginning of the championships. [9:50] How did you adjust? [9:51] And also, were you surprised by the level of his forehand? [9:53] Because I thought that the level of his forehand was as good as ever in the first two sets. [9:58] Broke a little bit on the fourth sets. [10:01] Were you prepared for that? [10:02] I mean, I could see also from outside, you know, playing him when he was playing other matches that the forehand he was hitting very fast. [10:12] He is a very, very tricky player to play against, because, you know, you can have several games where you don't touch the ball because he's serving so well. [10:23] And then when he has the ball, now he is trying to make so much damage, you know. [10:29] So, wind was there at moments, then the fourth set was okay. [10:36] I felt like when the sun went down, also the wind went down for some reason. [10:41] But it's really, really tough, and there's also a reason now why he won Grand Slam, why he's so close to what he is doing, everything now, you know. [10:51] So, yeah, he's improving a lot. [10:55] I'm very happy for him. [10:56] I know how much he works, his family as well. [10:59] And it's good, it's good for the sport. [11:01] So, yeah, let's see for the next one. [11:05] Okay, thank you. [11:06] We're going to take Italian.