TENNIS: Sinner says successful Wimbledon defense sweet after French Open shock

LONDON – Jannik Sinner said successfully defending his Wimbledon title was especially meaningful after his surprising early exit from the French Open last month, crediting weeks of hard work and preparation for helping him capture the championship.

The 24-year-old arrived at the All England Club facing questions after a second-round loss to Juan Manuel Cerundolo at Roland Garros. Instead of playing in traditional grass-court warm-up tournaments, Sinner focused on intensive training in Monaco, including sessions on hard courts, before gradually finding his rhythm at Wimbledon.

His preparation paid off as he defeated Germany's Alexander Zverev in four sets on Sunday to claim his fifth Grand Slam singles title.

"Every Grand Slam is different. Different story, different environment, different feelings before the tournament," Sinner told reporters.

"For me, this one means a lot because it was tough after Paris. Last year was also tough. But coming here, I tried to put myself in the best position to be as competitive as possible.

"We put in a lot of workdays in Monaco, very, very long. Definitely sacrificing a lot of my time and everything to be in this position. Having this achievement, it means a lot to me. It was an amazing day today."

No feeling of relief

Sinner has enjoyed an outstanding season, winning all five Masters tournaments held so far while losing only three matches. However, two of those defeats came at this year's first two Grand Slam events, making his Wimbledon triumph his first major title since winning the tournament a year ago.

Despite the victory over Zverev, Sinner said he never felt pressure to prove himself and does not measure success solely by Grand Slam titles.

"Sometimes you have a tournament with a good outcome, and sometimes you just don't. There is no failure if you don't win a Grand Slam," he said.

"Now I have five in my whole life. But it's five days of so many other days. You just want to enjoy it. Today was a very tough day. If I lose, it's still a great day.

"I never take things for granted."

Praise for rivals

Zverev, who was beaten 6-7 (7), 7-6 (2), 6-3, 6-4 in a three-hour, 46-minute final, suffered his fourth defeat in a Grand Slam championship match. Still, Sinner praised the German's continued improvement and welcomed the growing competition on the ATP Tour.

"That's exactly what's good, because you have always someone who's pushing you to the limit," Sinner said.

"We hope that Carlos Alcaraz is coming back, as well, because tennis needs him. Having Novak Djokovic still around, having all the young players coming, it's really nice.

"At the same time, you always need to work hard and have moments like this." -Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in London, editing by Pritha Sarkar/Reuters