Alexander Zverev has looked back on his 2026 Wimbledon final defeat to Jannik Sinner and explained why the loss left him “p***ed off” afterwards.

The German was beaten 6-7(7), 7-6(2), 6-3, 6-4 by the world No 1 in the championship match at the All England Club in July. It was a significant step for Zverev, who had never previously gone beyond the fourth round at Wimbledon before this year’s tournament.

The 29-year-old arrived in London trying to add a second straight Grand Slam title to his record after winning his first major at the 2026 French Open. Although the final ended in defeat, his level drew praise in a conversation with tennis icon John McEnroe that was shared by Outside the Ball on X/Twitter.

McEnroe said: “You won the French. You had not had a lot of success in Wimbledon, but you played great there. Assess the match with Jannik Sinner. I mean, I called the match, but I thought you played great. You know, tell me if you disagree. It was a highly competitive match.

“You were very aggressive, and maybe as aggressive [as] I’ve ever seen you play, certainly on that surface. I would think, all things considered, you had to be extremely happy about that result as well.”

Zverev did not hide his disappointment, even while acknowledging the importance of reaching the final. He said: “I was happy that I made it to the Wimbledon final, of course, but I was still, I was a little bit, you know, p***ed off that I lost the match, because I felt like the match got a little bit out of my hand, because I won the first set.

“I lost the second set in a tie break, and then I had break points in the third set to go up a break, and I haven’t lost my serve at all in that match until that moment, and I felt like I was right there, and I even felt like I was playing better than he was in that moment.

“And then I slipped… I slipped, and then my two bones in my knee hit each other, and then I struggled to serve after that. I couldn’t push off up anymore, which then, he started to return my serve a lot more.

“We were a lot more in the rallies on my serve, and he then ended up winning the third and fourth sets, but I still felt like that match, I could have won, and of course, winning Wimbledon is one of the biggest things in tennis.

“But again, I’m fine with it, because I feel like I’ll get another chance, and I’ll get another couple of chances, and if I continue doing the same thing, I will hopefully lift the trophy one day.”

Andy Roddick believes Iga Swiatek’s unexpected defeat at the 2026 US Open was driven by something beyond her tennis.

Swiatek went down 7-5, 6-3 to Zheng Qinwen, a 121st-ranked qualifier and former world No 4, in the fourth round of the hard-court major on Monday. The six-time Grand Slam champion had looked firmly in control after opening up a 5-0 lead in the first set, but the match swung sharply when she dropped the next seven games and failed to convert three set points on serve.

The former world No 1 now sits eighth in the rankings and has slipped to ninth in the Live WTA Rankings. By her own standards, it has been a challenging season, although she arrived in New York with encouraging momentum after winning the Canadian Open and reaching the semi-finals in Cincinnati.

On his Served podcast, Roddick offered a blunt reading of the loss. “Iga kind of fell apart a little bit. She said it. She was like, ‘I just started missing balls’,” said the 2003 US Open winner.

He went on to say: “You used to be able to bank on Iga. And listen, before I get into this criticism, I have an outsized amount of respect for what Iga has accomplished in her career. I am a fan of hers. I think she is criminally underreported on.

“And Iga, for the last two years, even with the Wimbledon title, the difference is that there have been inconsistencies, where she has patches in matches where the game goes off.

“And she looks at her box, and it’s a little panicked at times. And it is unpredictable, really. She’ll look great, she’ll look great, she’ll look great, and then all of a sudden it’s like, ‘Where did that come from?”

Roddick added: “Iga, we kind of have to figure that thing out, she had a good summer, obviously the win in Canada, but we judge her, she judges herself against her own shadow.

“She has six majors, dominant force in tennis, a multiple-time year-end number one. She’s probably going to be doing some searching.

“And it wasn’t the tennis going into this match. It wasn’t tennis-based. She’s been playing well for five weeks now. So, it is something else.

“But credit to Qinwen, good to see her back. You could see how much joy she had in that moment, going through qualies. She’s here for the real deal.”

Greg Rusedski has suggested that Iga Swiatek is being hindered by an ongoing “scar tissue” problem, while also arguing that it remains sensible for her to continue working with Francisco Roig.

Swiatek arrived at the US Open with momentum after lifting the Canadian Open trophy and making a strong run in Cincinnati. That optimism seemed justified when she opened her campaign without dropping a set in her first three matches. She then surged to a 5-0 lead against former Australian Open finalist Qinwen Zheng and appeared set for the quarter-finals.

Instead, the match turned sharply. Zheng won seven games in a row and went on to beat the out-of-form eighth seed 7-5, 6-3 in the fourth round.

Asked whether the setback reflected a mental problem, Swiatek said, “I wouldn’t say it had anything to do with mentality. It was more that I started making mistakes from easy balls, and Qinwen stopped making mistakes. She played the balls better.” She later described the defeat as “just one match”.

Rusedski is not convinced the issue is so easily dismissed. The former US Open finalist pointed to Swiatek’s form either side of her 2025 Wimbledon title as a concern, with the six-time major champion now sitting ninth in the rankings.

On Off Court, Rusedski said, “The s ummer started well for her, w inning in Canada, that was a big step forward, playing some great tennis. Everybody’s thinking, ‘Iga’s form was looking really good at the US Open’.

“So it’s about confidence. It’s about belief. That wouldn’t happen to her when she was the very best in the world. And unfortunately, the older we get, we get something called scar tissue and our mind gets away and sometimes we don’t find a way to stop this when momentum shifts.

“S o when you’re up 5-0 up and you lose seven games in a row, you’re not being able to either put your opponent off, find a way to lift your game, or use your coaching team to find a way to work it out.

“S he went with Francisco Roig, they didn’t get off to the best start when the relationship started (in April). It looked like this summer was getting better and they’re still feeling each other out on how they work.

“T his is another test for them because she needs to find a way to break that cycle. Roig’ s a great coach. She’s decided she’s going to continue on that partnership, she’s going to move forward.”

Rusedski added that the decision to stay together should be viewed positively and said Swiatek may need time to settle into the partnership before finding her rhythm again.