By Martyn Herman
LONDON (Reuters) -Jannik Sinner spoke of his pride at overcoming months of adversity on and off the court after claiming his first Wimbledon title by dethroning rival Carlos Alcaraz on Sunday.
The ice-cool 23-year-old beat the Spaniard 4-6 6-4 6-4 6-4 to become Italy’s first Wimbledon singles champion and claim his fourth Grand Slam title.
Sinner’s third major came at this year’s Australian Open where he retained the title despite the dark cloud of a possible ban for a doping violation hanging over his head.
Tennis authorities found the world number one bore ‘no fault or negligence’ for a positive test for anabolic steroid clostebol — Sinner saying it had inadvertently entered his system via a massage from a team member — but he accepted a three-month ban from World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in February.
His title on Sunday was his first since returning in May and came five weeks after losing an epic French Open final to Alcaraz in which he squandered three match points.
“Very emotional, even if I don’t cry,” Sinner told reporters on Sunday. “It feels emotional because only me and the people who are close to me know exactly what we have been through on and off the court, and it has been everything except easy.
“We’ve tried to push every practice session, even if I was struggling at times mentally. Maybe even more in practice sessions because I feel like when I play the match, I can switch off and just play. I believe that this helped me a lot.”
Sinner praised his team, including Australian coach Darren Cahill, for helping him bounce back from the heartache of Paris and snap a five-match losing streak against Alcaraz.
Cahill said it was down to Sinner’s resilience.
“I think you could see that from the first match that he played, that he wasn’t carrying any baggage from Roland Garros,” Cahill told reporters. “That’s not easy to do.
“It’s easy for us to say that in words, to put it to one side, but for the player to wipe it away and be able to come here with the mentality that he had, is 100% credit to him.”
Sinner said the way he lost to Alcaraz in Paris had actually made it easier to move on.
“I always tried to be honest with myself … I always tried to accept it,” he said. “I believe if you lose a Grand Slam final that way, it’s much better like this than when someone kills you.
“I did a lot of intensity in every practice because I felt like that I could play very good. That’s why I also said after Roland Garros that it’s not the time to be down, because another Grand Slam is coming up, and I did great here.”
(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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