The ‘sinner’ who avoids his ‘sin’

“Whoever said, 'It's not whether you win or lose that counts,' probably lost.”

—Martina Navratilova

 

By Alex P. Vidal

 

UNLIKE in the 2025 French Open last month when the match between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner lasted five hours and 29 minutes, making it the longest final in French Open history, Sunday’s 2025 Wimbledon gentlemen’s final lasted “only” three hours and four minutes.

This time, world no. 1 Sinner, 23, didn’t commit the same “sin” when he lost to word no. 2 Alcaraz in a heartbreaking five-set marathon (4-6, 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 7-6) in the French Open or Roland Garros final match that surpassed the 1982 final between Mats Wilander and Guillermo Vilas by 47 minutes.

His “sin” in the French Open included allowing Alcaraz to rally after a commanding lead in the second the third sets and thus broke the hearts of his fans all over the world for “letting” slip away the coveted French Open title.

At the Wimbledon, Sinner roared to a commanding lead after three sets to secure his first Wimbledon title with a phenomenal performance, toppling Alcaraz, the two-time defending champion, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 6-4.

It was a sweet revenge.

 

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We rooted for the Italian world number one player in the Wimbledon final because of empathy.

We thought it was about time he avenged the brutal defeat to the Spanish superstar in the French Open where he became so emotional for losing a “winning” match.

The 2025 Wimbledon final was spectacular in many aspects as Sinner became the first Italian player to win a Wimbledon singles title and now stands as a four-time grand slam champion.

The lanky Italian broke his overall tie with an assortment of famous names, including the legendary Arthur Ashe, Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka.

Perhaps most important, Sinner ended his great rival’s run of five consecutive wins against him, adding a new dimension to a rivalry that seems set to decide the majority of major tournaments in the near future.

In their own personal grand slam race, which still feels like it has only just started, Sinner’s win ensured that Alcaraz, who owns five major titles, remained within touching distance.

It was also Sinner’s first slam title away from hard courts, after two victories at the Australian Open and last year’s US Open title.

Also, it was Sinner’s first grand slam victory and overall title since his three-month doping ban between February and May last year when he was tested positive for the banned substance clostebol.

He was able to successfully argue during his initial tribunal in August that the positive test had been a result of contamination, receiving no suspension. After the World Anti-Doping Agency chose to appeal the case, Sinner’s team and Wada eventually entered a case resolution ­agreement, essentially a ­settlement, agreeing on the three-month suspension.

 

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There was this astounding story of a man who said that he would stop the motor of the world--and did.

Atlas Shrugged is a massive paean to capitalism and depicts a world where corporate CEOs and one-percenters are the selfless heroes upon which our society depends, and basically everyone else -- journalists, legislators, government employees, the poor -- are the villains trying to drag the rich down out of spite, when we should be kissing their rings in gratitude that they allow us to exist.

Rand’s protagonists are Dagny Taggart, heir to a transcontinental railroad empire, and Hank Rearden, the head of a steel company who’s invented a revolutionary new alloy which he’s modestly named Rearden Metal.

Together, they battle against evil government bureaucrats and parasitic socialists to hold civilization together, while all the while powerful industrialists are mysteriously disappearing, leaving behind only the cryptic phrase “Who is John Galt?”

 

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Atlas Shrugged is a work of fiction, but as far as many prominent conservatives are concerned, it’s sacred scripture.

Alan Greenspan was a member of Rand’s inner circle, and opposed regulation of financial markets because he believed her dictum that the greed of businessmen was always the public’s best protection.

Some politicians have required their staffers to read the book, while others have announced grandiose plans to build their own real-life “Galt’s Gulch,” the hidden refuge where the book’s capitalist heroes go to watch civilization collapse without them.

Reading Atlas Shrugged is like entering into a strange mirror universe where everything we thought we knew about economics and morality is turned upside down.

We’ve already learned some valuable lessons from it.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor-in-chief of two leading daily newspapers in Iloilo, Philippines.—Ed)