“He did not let me breathe”: Carlos Alcaraz makes honest confession after Wimbledon final defeat to Jannik Sinner

Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz has highlighted one of the reasons which led him to face a defeat in the final of Wimbledon 2025. The 22-year-old came second-best against world number one Jannik Sinner in the final of the third Grand Slam of the year with a score of 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.

It was Alcaraz’s first defeat in the competition in three years. It was also his first defeat in the final of any Grand Slam. Previously, he won on all four occasions. Alcaraz spoke to Movistar + after the match, where he admitted that Sinner was so good on the day that he did not let him ‘breathe’ at times.

"It's a learning defeat, it always hurts to lose a Grand Slam final, but you have to look at things from a different perspective,” said Alcaraz. “I am happy and proud of what I have done. Today I faced someone with a very high level, there were moments when he didn't let me breathe, he was better than me. One must accept and learn."

On the other hand, the victory was a massive one for Sinner, who lifted his first Wimbledon title and his fourth Grand Slam on Sunday. It was also Sinner’s first win over Alcaraz after suffering five consecutive defeats. One of those came just a month ago in the final of the French Open, where at one stage, Sinner had three championship points in the fourth set. Not only did Sinner fail to capitalise on any one of those points, but Alcaraz saved his serve, and in the next game, broke Sinner’s serve to make it 5-5. Alcaraz then went on to win the set in the tiebreak and eventually win the contest in the fifth set tiebreak. The match lasted more than five hours and officially became the second-longest final in the history of Grand Slams in the Open era.