Sachin Tendulkar hails Jannik Sinner for maiden Wimbledon title

Former Indian cricketer and legendary batter Sachin Tendulkar hailed Jannik Sinner as he outclassed his rival and Spanish sensation Carlos Alcaraz to secure his maiden Wimbledon title on Sunday. The 23-year-old captured his fourth major title, after two Australian Open and a US Open triumph, defeating Alcaraz 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in a clash oozing with class and intensity in every shot. This was Sinner's first-ever Wimbledon final.

The Master Blaster posted on his official X handle, "A match befitting a Wimbledon Final, both Sinner and Alcaraz kept demanding the best out of each other. Congratulations, Sinner, you belong to a special club today. Well played, Alcaraz, many more finals to come your way."

The 23-year-old Italian was extremely precise with his groundstrokes, but still lost the first set. Carlos Alcaraz came out aggressively, hitting with heavy pace and using drop shots well. He showed trademark resilience to bounce back from 2-4 in the first set and have it to his name with a backhand defensive block.

But Jannik Sinner followed it with three hard-fought wins in the next three sets to take the trophy home. Sinner had dropped just 17 games during his first three matches at Wimbledon and survived a major scare in the fourth round, when Grigor Dimitrov was forced to leave the field due to injury despite leading the game. 

Sinner also needed some medical attention on his elbow, but he battled hard against Ben Shelton and Novak Djokovic to register his fifth Grand Slam final appearance. Following the match, Sinner said, as quoted by the ATP website, that playing against the Spanish star is "so difficult" and encouraged his rival to "keep going and keep pushing".

"I would like to start with Carlos. Again, an amazing tournament, but mostly thank you for the player you are. It is so difficult to play against you, but we have an amazing relationship off the court and on the court, we just try to build up, and to do that we need the best teams in the world. Keep going, keep pushing and you are going to hold this trophy many times. You already have two titles," said Sinner to Alcaraz. (ANI)