Sinner did not lose the plot at Wimbledon this weekend so much as postpone it, clawing back from two sets down against Alexander Zverev to defend the title and remind the sport that "back-to-back Slam" is a sentence only one man in the draw gets to finish. He is 24, he now owns Wimbledon in consecutive years, and the only thing that stopped his season cold in the spring was a doping suspension he served and returned from like a man rescheduling a dentist appointment. Zverev, still chasing his first major at 29, got three hours of proof that proximity to history is not the same thing as history.

Wimbledon's own economics make the comeback worth more than the trophy suggests: the All England Club now sits on a broadcast and hospitality machine that outearns three of the other four majors combined on site-generated revenue alone, even as it pays out less in prize money than the US Open. Sinner's win doesn't change that math, but it does lock the tournament's most bankable storyline, a rivalry with Carlos Alcaraz that has already replaced Federer-Nadal as the sport's main event, into a second straight July. The All England Club sells grass-court nostalgia. Sinner just sold them two more years of appointment viewing.