Jannik Sinner beat Alexander Zverev to win the 2026 Wimbledon final on Centre Court, retaining his title in four sets — and the world No.1 couldn’t resist calling out his mum in his victory speech
Jannik Sinnercalled out his own mum after catching her leaving Wimbledon’s Centre Court during his four-set final triumph over Alexander Zverev.
Sinner fought back from dropping a first-set tiebreak to prevail 6-7, 7-6, 6-3, 6-4 in three hours and 46 minutes. But his mother Siglinde, who declined to sit in the Royal Box, repeatedly departed the arena during the championship match, as the tension of watching her son became overwhelming.
Ultimately, Sinner claimed a fifth Grand Slam title and joined the ranks of Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz in successfully defending his crown at the All England Club. The 24 year old collapsed to the grass in celebration as he savoured a ninth consecutive victory over Zverev and his fifth against the German in 2026 alone. The world No. 1 made a point of highlighting his mum, prompting laughter from the crowd, during his speech, reports the Express.
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He said: “We both started off very well, serving very fast. We prepared in the best possible way, me and my team. I have to thank the whole team, the whole support I get from the whole box. My mum, I see her, she left the stadium a couple of times.
“Being a player it’s not easy, you know? (laughs) But in the same time it’s been an amazing final once again. It always takes two players, and me and Sascha try to give everything we have. I’m very happy of course about the win but I’m mostly very happy about the level we both played.
“You [the fans] are the reason. There is no better place honestly to play tennis, standing here. You can feel the nerves on the Sunday morning when you wake up. You know that this is a very, very special day and you never know how many times you can come back on Sunday.
“I never take things for granted playing in front of very, very special people throughout the whole couple of weeks. It has been amazing and thanks for the support. You are always amazing to me and you gave me the most special feeling a tennis player can feel so thank you so much.”
He added to runner-up Zverev: “Yeah amazing. But as Sascha did, I would like to start with you and your whole team and family. You reached one of your main goals, winning Grand Slams and you made it happen in Paris. Today you were so, so close. If you play like this, I’m very, very sure you’re going to have this one at home as well.
“Amazing. Keep going. I know another goal for you is to become number one in the world. You’re very close so I have to be very careful now! But congrats.”
Sinner added: “Last thing I would like to add, it’s been a couple of very, very warm days. No rain for the first time which is amazing but I would love to thank all the ballkids and ballboys for everything you do.
“You make our lives on court as simple as possible so thank you. Thanks the whole organisation behind the scenes. This is truly the most special tournament we have throughout the year. Thank you so much and see you all next year.”
This marks the fourth Slam final that Zverev has lost, although he finally clinched his first major at the age of 29 at the French Open last month. After receiving congratulations from Princess Kate, the runner-up addressed the crowd: “Well first of all, Jannik, I don’t really like you anymore! I lost to you nine times in a row… But no, congratulations to Jannik. He showed once again why he’s the best player in the world.
“It was great to share the Centre Court with you on finals weekend. It’s a great honour to be here. Unfortunately it didn’t go my way but congratulations to you first of all. I don’t know how it works, do I just keep going?”.
“Also Jannik’s team, who have been with him for many, many years now. You guys are world No.1 but you started outside the top 10 and worked all the way to Grand Slam champions and world No.1. It’s definitely a team effort. I think Jannik is the first to admit it. Congratulations to you guys as well, you really deserve it.
“To my team, we had a pretty good two months I would say even though we lost this final. We had an amazing two months. We came into Wimbledon never reaching a quarter-final and we played our first Wimbledon final. At 29 years old, this was the first time I actually believed I can win this trophy so thanks to you guys as well.
“I would like to thank the crowd for these two amazing weeks. Every time I played the court was full. I never felt support like that in Wimbledon before. I really appreciate it. You guys are a big part of why I made it to the final so thank you very much for that.”
After someone in the crowd shouted ‘2027’ at Zverev, he replied: “Unfortunately this guy [Jannik] will be back as well! One more thing, it’s very, very special to play on this Centre Court and it’s because of the Royal Box as well. The amount of special people I see for every single match, especially for the final.
“It’s a great honour to play in front of you Your Highness [ Prince William ] and in front of everybody else as well. It’s the most unique court in the entire world and the Royal Box is a special thing. It’s a massive honour to play in this court. It’s as simple as that.”