Tennis fans demand Jannik Sinner do something no Wimbledon winner has ever done in unprecedented move
Jannik Sinner won the men's singles Wimbledon title for the first time on Sunday and tennis fans on social media were quick to take the shine off the trophy.
Sinner followed his wins in the US Open and Australian Open with a fourth Grand Slam tournament final win against back-to-back Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz on Sunday.
The Italian defeated his rival 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 on Centre Court to stop the Spanish player's incredible winning run in SW19 but there are a couple of question marks over his win, if you're of a mind to look for them.
Nick Kyrgios allowed himself a degree of plausible deniability with his subtle apparent dig after the Wimbledon final but it's clear that there are fans and observers within the tennis community who are less than chuffed that the new champion has served the beginning, middle and end of a doping ban since winning this year's Australian Open.
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But there's another asterisk to be found within the tournament itself and the tennis fans of X, formerly Twitter, have naturally honed in on it and proposed a couple of helpful but wholly unprecedented solutions.
In the fourth round, the 23-year-old future champion was on the ropes against Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov.
Dimitrov won the first set 6-3 and the second 7-5 before retiring through a rather painful-looking injury with the third set finely balanced at 2-2.
Sinner went on to beat Ben Shelton and Novak Djokovic in straight sets before a gutsy display against Alcaraz in Sunday's final.
Sports journalist James Gray embraced the chaos, joking that the champion should defend his title against Dimitrov when the 34-year-old is fit enough to take him on.
That head-to-head would be one way to settle this crucial matter but it's not the only answer.
"Should be half Sinner half Grigor Dimitrov’s title tbh," mused one X user.
"Sinner should share the title with Dimitrov," chuckled another.
One user even went as far as to suggest that "Sinner got to send 10% of the title earnings to Dimitrov asap", presumably unaware that those earnings are taxable.
But even on X there was a more moderate approach.
"Sinner must thank Dimitrov for his first Wimbledon title," posted one fan. Quite.
Chris Nee