Fallen Favorites and Newly Crowned Champions
Graphic by Amelie Lima
Another year of battles on the grass courts of SW19 has come to a close, with the 2025 Wimbledon champions crowned and a tournament full of upsets and breakthroughs in the books. Jannik Sinner and Iga Świątek rose to claim their maiden titles in the men’s and women’s singles at the All England Club after early exits from top seeds, surprise semifinal runs, and five-setters that kept fans on the edge of their seats.
Men’s Singles
For the second consecutive Grand Slam, world No. 1 Jannik Sinner and No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz faced off in the finals of the Men’s Singles Championship in the latest edition of their developing rivalry. Last month, the pair delivered a spectacular performance in what became the longest men’s singles final in Roland-Garros history—commonly known as the French Open—during the Open Era, with a match time of 5 hours and 29 minutes. Sinner was centimeters from clinching the win on multiple occasions with an astounding three championship points in the fourth set, but the fiery Spaniard battled back each time. In the fifth and final set, neither player relented, competing closely into a deciding tiebreak. However, Alcaraz’s momentum proved unstoppable as he achieved a 9-2 lead before reeling off a final forehand that landed him his fifth Grand Slam title at just 22 years old, and ultimate heartbreak for Sinner.
After a first-round scare in which Italian Fabio Fognini pushed the defending Wimbledon champion to a fifth set, Alcaraz demonstrated an otherwise impressive level of consistency in his path to the final, taking out Andrey Rublev and Taylor Fritz in the process. Sinner’s journey was not as smooth. In the Round of 16, a minorly injured Sinner dropped the first two sets against Grigor Dimitrov and appeared to be in hot water until his opponent suddenly tore a pectoral muscle. While Dimitrov attempted to continue, it was clear that he was in extreme pain and was forced to end his match due to injury for the fourth Grand Slam in a row; Sinner advanced to the quarter-final by the skin of his teeth in a walkover. He was able to carry the lucky momentum forward, defeating both Ben Shelton and Novak Djokovic—a grass court legend with four Wimbledon titles—in straight sets to secure his place in the finals.
Leading up to their finals face-off, Alcaraz held the advantage as a former two-time Wimbledon champion and leading his head-to-head record against Sinner. After Sinner’s near loss to Dimitrov, his chances of avenging the Roland-Garros defeat appeared slim, but after his win against Djokovic, he seemed to regain his footing just in time for the rematch. While Alcaraz reeled off four consecutive games to take the first set, Sinner used the start of the second set as his moment to turn the tables; he consistently applied pressure and played at the peak of his ability, fueled by the memories of his crushing loss in Paris. Alcaraz could not hold him off, as the world No. 1 captured three consecutive sets to secure victory and his first Wimbledon championship. Sinner became the first Italian player to win a singles title at Wimbledon, bringing his Grand Slam total to four—and achieving long-awaited redemption.
Women’s Singles
With 10 seeded players falling in just the first round, most notably second seed Coco Gauff, the women’s tournament promised excitement and ultimately led American Amanda Anisimova to face former World No. 1 Iga Swiatek in the finals. While Swiatek entered the tournament with five Grand Slam titles under her belt, Anisimova had only recently reached a career high, coming in as a No. 12— a notable rise considering her loss in the Wimbledon qualifiers last year.
Swiatek entered Wimbledon ranked No. 8, her lowest ranking since February 2022. She played her first-ever grass court final at Bad Homburg just two weeks prior. Dropping just one set in the entire tournament, her preparation was clear, especially in her decisive victory over Belinda Bencic in the semi-finals. After reaching the finals on the grass of Queen’s Club, Anisimova entered Wimbledon on a high. She breezed past Yulia Putintseva in the first round and eventually reached the semi-final to go head-to-head with first seed Aryna Sabalenka. Anisimova had won five of her previous eight matches against world No. 1 Sabalenka and had recently started to assert herself on grass courts. In 86-degree weather and difficult conditions, Anisimova outlasted Sabalenka in a close fight to achieve the biggest victory of her career in the third set.
Despite Anisimova’s rise throughout the tournament, Swiatek’s performance in the Women’s Final can only be described as a total massacre. A tense and teary-eyed Anisimova suffered a flurry of errors in the first set and appeared increasingly fatigued in the second. Swiatek captured the title with her precise play in just 57 minutes with a 6-0, 6-0 scoreline. In doing so, she became the first woman to achieve a double bagel—a win without dropping a game— in a Wimbledon final since Dorothea Lambert Chambers in 1911. Finally conquering a Grand Slam on grass, 24-year-old Swiatek also became the youngest woman to win Grand Slam titles on all three surfaces since Serena Williams in 2002.
Whitney Ford ’28 (wford@college.harvard.edu) cannot wait to wait to watch the U.S. Open.