The China Mail - Sinner defends Wimbledon crown against revitalised Zverev

Sinner goes into the final as the firm favourite, having won his last nine meetings with Zverev, including four this year, but this will be their first clash since the German finally became a Grand Slam champion.

The pair have been the stand-out players in men's tennis since Carlos Alcaraz was sidelined through injury in April.

Sinner will be appearing in his second Wimbledon final as he chases a fifth Grand Slam crown, while Zverev, in search of a second major title, is through to his maiden showpiece at the All England Club and in better form than ever.

The Italian can notch his 100th Grand Slam match win by repeating his 2025 Australian Open final victory over Zverev.

"It means a lot to me to play one more final here. It's the most special tournament we have," said Sinner, who crashed out in the second round of the recent French Open.

Sinner will be competing in his seventh Grand Slam final and his first since losing to Carlos Alcaraz at the US Open last year.

The 24-year-old has not dropped a set in his last six wins over Zverev.

That miserable streak for the German was started by a 6-0, 6-1 hammering in the Paris Masters semi-finals last year.

Only one set they have played since could even be considered a genuine contest, a second set which went to a tie-break in the Miami Open quarter-finals in March.

But Sinner is fully aware of the added confidence Zverev has after winning his maiden Grand Slam title at Roland Garros, banishing the memories of a string of agonising near-misses.

"He is very, very aggressive at the moment. His confidence is good. He's very relaxed on court at the moment, so this is good," said the top seed of his final opponent.

Sinner and Zverev have dropped just two sets each at Wimbledon this year, with the Italian coming from two sets to one down in a first-round scare against Miomir Kecmanovic.

"I knew mentally I had to raise my level, which I have done so I am very happy," Sinner said.

He saved his best performance so far for a semi-final dismantling of Novak Djokovic, ruthlessly swatting aside the 39-year-old to exact revenge for his Australian Open last-four loss to the Serb in January.

- Zverev 'can do it again' -

Zverev will be in his fifth Grand Slam final after finally shedding the unwanted tag as the most talented player of his generation never to win a major.

The 29-year-old can become the seventh man in the Open era to win Roland Garros and Wimbledon back to back.

He would join an illustrious list featuring only Alcaraz, Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Bjorn Borg and Rod Laver.

"Jannik has won Wimbledon last year. Again, I think the serve-return patterns are going to be very, very important," he said.

Just 12 months ago, Zverev suffered an embarrassing Wimbledon first-round exit against Arthur Rinderknech.

Now he is on the brink of becoming the first German man to win Wimbledon since Michael Stich in 1991.

He is the first male German finalist at Wimbledon since Boris Becker in 1995.

Asked if he felt liberated by his French Open final win over Flavio Cobolli, Zverev said: "Yes, one thing, for sure, once you win a major you know how to do it and you feel like you can do it again. You have this feeling inside of you."

G.Fung--ThChM