PTI - What Does Winning Wimbledon Mean for Jannik Sinner?

Episode Date: July 14, 2025

Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser discuss Wimbledon, the MLB, and Lionel Messi. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, sports fans, the ESPN app has all of ESPN all in one place. The ESPN app is your home to thousands of live events, ESPN shows, and originals across every ESPN network and service. And now you can check if you already have ESPN Unlimited as part of your TV package for no additional calls. Visit activate.esPN.com to learn how to access your account or sign up, then start streaming in the ESPN app. It's all of ESPN all in one place. Sign up or activate now. Pardon the interruption, but I'm Mike Wilbon. Tony, a man was arrested for allegedly stripping naked and knocking out another dude by throwing a deep freezer at him. I'm Tony Kornheiser.

I bet you didn't think I could lift that much, right? You didn't think I could a deep freezer. No, and I bet you don't think I believe that story. I don't believe a word of that. He can't either. How much you think I could bench press? No, no, take a guess. How much you think I could bench press?

I'm going to say 275. It doesn't matter. I have no number. It's a great movie called Best in Show. If you haven't seen Best in Show, it's a dog show movie, fabulous movie. Welcome to PTI, boys and girls. In today's episode, the Red Sox and Brewers are streaking. The Miz making the All-Star team has some players grumbling,

and Leonel Messi delivers again. But we begin today one last time with Wimbledon. Top-seated Yanuk's center justified his seating by beating second-seeded Carlos Alcaraz in a tense good finals match. Cinder won 6'4 and the fourth, and all four sets went 6'4. Al-Karaz won the first, sinner the next three. He did sinners first Wimbledon, his fourth major overall.

Wilbon, what does sinners win over Al-Qaraz signal to you? That this is a real rivalry. It's going to go back and forth. That's what rivalries do. They don't say so lopsided, and it's starting to look that way with Al-Karaz, having, you know, gotten on a little bit of rollover, Sinter, including obviously,

the French Open coming back from two sets down. But no, this is what rivalries do this, push and pull. There's a tug of war. Nobody lets go with a rope, even if somebody has an advantage for a while, which Al Coraz had. And it looked like Tony after that first set, he might maintain it.

But I really give sinner big credit here, because given what he had to go through emotionally and getting just blitzed at the French Open like he did, up two sets to none, and having to eat it and live with it for whatever it is a month or six weeks. I give Senator credit he's the number one player in the world. He had to face down whatever that is, work with his coaches and his team and whatever nonsense tennis players talk about now, and recover and come back and beat a guy

who's at least as good as he is. It didn't signal anything new. I don't need analytics. It's two dudes going at it like they might for the next dozen years. Don't worry, I'm not going to throw analytics at you in any way. I think Sinner really needed to win this match because of, as you say, what happened at the French Open, because Alcaraz had beaten him five straight and because if Alcaraz had won this, Mike, and he had a three-peat at Wimbledon, his name was going to be up there with Borg, with Sampras, with Federer, with Djokovic.

And there was nothing in Sinner's resume that could have equaled that. It was a really good match. I watched all of it. I don't want to say there was a turning point, but as close to a turner. turning point there was, I believe, was in the eighth game of the fourth set. Sinner was serving four, three. Al-Qaraz had two break points. Sinner held back on those break points and then won two points right in a row, winning four in a row. And at that point, you said to yourself, no, it's over for Al-Qaraz in this particular thing. The next time Sinner served, he served to 40 love. And that was for the match. He had three match points, and he only needed one of them. By the second one, he had won this.

think that they are demonstrably better than everybody else in tennis. I don't think there's anybody younger than them on their level right now. They beat all the older people. Jokovic is still the best of the older people. Sinner has beaten him right in both in Paris and in London in the last two tournaments and Alcoraz beat him in two finals at Wimbledon. So I think it's those guys for 10 or 12 years, Mike. Ten or 12 years. Well, Tony, this. plenty of time for somebody who's 18 to interrupt them, to join it. There's plenty of time.

We usually see overlapping rivalries, and I hope we see that, because that adds spice to it. As much as I like seeing the two of them, I'd like seeing the two of them and one more, or another one. Sure. So we got, I don't need to predict it. I just

like watching it, and now maybe you think we're going to get it in New York? You think we'll get one more at the U.S. Open? It would be fun. I don't care where they're seated. I don't care how it's marketed. I just want to see them two dudes against each other again. Baseball's All-Star break is upon us, boys and girls.

And two teams are real hot heading into it. The Sox swept the race Sunday to make it 10 in a row. 10 in a row. Boston's now third in the ALE's just a game behind the Yanks. And in the National League, the Brewers swept the nationals. Sorry, no account nationals. after sweeping the Dodgers, Milwaukee's seven straight wins, puts the cheese heads just a game behind my cubbies in the NL Central.

Tone, Sox, brew crew, who looks better positioned for the start of the second half to you? Get to that in a second. I just want to say how much it pleases me that you can rail about analytics and tennis when nobody actually talks about analytics and tennis. That makes me so happy. So I know how you follow the brew. because of the division they're in. I know how apprehensive and anxious you are that they will overtake the Cubs. The Brewers just swept the team that I root for, the Washington Nationals.

It's not a good team. By the numbers, it has the worst bullpen in baseball, historically bad bullpen, maybe even a biblically bad bullpen. I mean, they're just absolutely terrible. So I'm going to leave the rest of this discussion with the Brewers to you. And I'm going to talk about the Red Sox for a second. The Red Sox. were facing a crisis because Raphael Devers did not want to be a teammate. This is the kind of situation that gets managers fired. It was resolved by sending Devers as far away as they could send them to San Francisco, and two things have happened since that happened. One is that Devers has been more or less a bust with the Giants. He has two home runs in 25 games, and he is batting

202 in San Francisco, which is no good. And the second thing was that the Red Sox have gotten significantly better. They were 37 and 36 at the time of the trade. They are 16 and 9 since. They are very much in it for a wild card position in the American League. And, I mean, that's impressive because with Devers the last three years, they didn't make the wild card. They didn't do it. The Milwaukee Brewers, and I know the Nationals angered me greatly over the weekend because they rolled over like dogs. They were terrible.

That's right. They were terrible. They beat the Dodgers before that. And the Brewers are positioned because of starting pitching, which is. third in ERA in the National League. And when you got the Mizz, who you didn't even want to acknowledge a week ago, Freddie Peralta,

and Quinn Priester, who they lifted off the Red Sox, you got three starters. Most teams are really challenged to find a second starter. The Brewers go out there and they throw these three dudes at you. And with the MIS

coming at you, maybe first to start a series, Tony, it's difficult. The Cubs are going to have to make a move. The Cardinals are going to have to make a move. That division is every bit 94, I-94, as good as the one on I-95, which is more heralded and slurped. So the Brewers are positioned. I don't want them to be positioned because I hate them, but they are. You have mentioned the Miz two or three times today. We will talk about him now as we move to the All-Star game and the least experienced player in it, Jacob Mizorowski, the Brewers'

phenom pitcher. Baseball named Misarowski to the All-Star team to replace Cub starter Matthew Boyd, who pitched Saturday and could not pitch in the All-Star game. Mizorowski has pitched just 25 big league innings. He's four-and-one with a 281 ERA. Several Phillies have been critical of this,

feeling a couple of their pitchers are more deserving than Mizorowski. Wilbon, do you have a problem with the Ms. being on the All-Star team? Yeah, a little one. And not even because he's a cheesehead. You know I think he's great. I mean, I've watched every one of his starts.

And Tony, I just don't think five starts should merit you in the All-Star game. I just don't. I mean, it's like last year, and people said Caitlin Clark had to be on the Olympic. No, she didn't. She didn't deserve to be on the Olympic team. And the Ms. doesn't really deserve it. I mean, and I'm not one person who thinks it's the television show. You want to have a television show, go watch reruns of Mr. Ed.

These are athletic competitions in which people are out there devoting their lives to this stuff. And the Mids can be an all-star next year or the year after he probably will be, even if he has Tommy John, he's going to be one, he's going to merit it. Now, five starts, I have a little bit of a problem with it because there are more deserving people now, and the Phillies are right. Yeah, okay. I thought you were dead wrong about Caitlin Clark in the Olympics. I don't agree with this position that you take. I am, and my position has been clear, The baseball All-Star game is a television show. This kid throws at 103.

People want to see that. Like last year with Paul Skeens. Paul Skeens threw it 101. People wanted to see that, and indeed he became a starter on the All-Star game last year. Now, he had 66 innings going into that game. He had 11 starts going into that game. This kid has 25 and 5.

You know, but this is not a hill that I choose. to die on. I don't. I mean, I'm okay with him doing this. I understand the Phillies position, but he's created more buzz than Philly starters. And if the reporting is correct, one of the Phillies starters did not want to pitch in the All-Star game. And the other, Suarez just pitched yesterday and wasn't going to be eligible to pitch in the All-Star game. Again, this kid is going to go out there. He's going to pitch in the All-Star game. He's going to throw one inning, and he's going to go over 100 throughout the inning. So I'm okay. I'm okay. with it, although I will give credit to

Nick Castellanos of the Phillies. This is a direct quote. It's turning into the Savannah bananas. I do like that quote. But I'm okay with this kid. I am. Let's take a break. Coming up, a finish you've got to see to believe at an LPGA major. Unbelievable.

Chelsea won the Club World Cup. So you're going to tell me that Leonel Messi did something even bigger in an MLS game? Hmm. I got it wrong. It was Sanchez. Sanchez is the one who pitched over the weekend and would not be eligible physically to pitch in the All-Star game, not Swarrow. You know, it's not a big problem, but, you know, we don't need it.

It's time to wrestle with the masses. Tried to make that rhyme in mail time. Couldn't make it wrong. Let me see what's first here. What's the word for the three straight holes that Grace Kim played to win the Evian championship? Not possible. And I watched this, Tony, and this is as good as any. golf ending I have seen this year or maybe longer.

Because Grace Kim is two, she's two shots behind. She's got the eagle, all right, and have her closest competitor, Geno Tentical, she's got to have her make par just to make a playoff. And then she gets into that playoff, and then you're seeing she hits it in the water, and she comes back and dunks this for Bertie to keep it going, and then Eagles the same hole, 18, a same. second time. So it's Eagle, Birdie Eagle to win for the first time. It's when her first major, both of these women are trying to win majors for the first time. It's the Evian. It's an

unbelievably beautiful golf course, I guess, on the French-Swiss border, it's overlooking Lake Geneva. But the drama of it, to know you've got to eagle something and you hit a shot, she almost did have an albatross because it nearly rolled in on the second shot. She tapped in for the first eagle. Not possible. I could have used fictional is what it would have been. Okay. So my word, similar to your word, is unbelievable. And you can choose from unbelievable, impossible, impossible, unprecedented, because they all fit. Let's go over Grace Kim's last few holes. She burdies 15. She birdies 16. She parsed 17, and as you say, she eagles 18. She gets into a playoff. She goes back out there on 18 again. The first shot she hits, she puts in the water. She's done. She's in

the water. It's over. And as you say, she chips in. Right. She's in the water. So she chips in. And my only reaction is what? What? She chips in? What? And then they go back on 18 and she eagles it again. So on 18, she goes eagle, birdie from the water eagle. And it's like it can't be done. She's ranked 99th on the tour. She's only won one other tournament. If I'm the other woman, I go to a rules official, I say, look, do me a favor. I'll play any hole you want out here. Not 18, because she's killing it on 18. Can't play 18. And Geno Tinnacle's a more accomplished player. She's won in multiple places in the world.

I mean, she had every advantage, and I thought she played 18 the correct way. She laid up and had a birdie punt that she didn't make that lipped out, essentially. Unreal, the ending, crazy ending, crazy. What was this weekend's bigger accomplishment in soccer to you? Chelsea winning the Club World Cup or Lionel Messi scoring twice for a fifth straight game? See, we're going to get me in trouble because every day we come up with something with Messi and we try to

compare it to the greatest players now in the world. Messy's been there for 100 years. But we try to compare it to the greatest teams and the greatest leagues that it's not comparable. It doesn't matter what Messi did in the MLS because Chelsea, which has now become a house of fire,

just doused PSG which had been that. And so to watch these two, Tony, there's no way the way PSG had been playing that you think they're going to get blitzed yesterday by Chelsea. No chance. That's a big time match featuring two of the greatest teams in the world. And Miami, whatever they are, the MLS is not that.

So no, it's not Miami. It's not messy anymore. Get off the stage. That's a prelim. Chelsea, PSG, the main event. Love to disagree with you. I don't know enough about soccer to disagree with you, so it's easier to agree. that, yes, this is an easy one to call.

It is Chelsea beating Paris Saint-Germain. Because the Club World Cup is a real tournament in which people play their real best players. And the only drawback to what I think was, wasn't it played at the Meadowlands? And it probably should have been played in Europe where it would have had much greater impact than being played in the United States.

Look, Messi's great. He's the greatest soccer player in the United States of America now, even at his age. you know, but into Miami, into Miami wasn't playing PSG. They did about a week ago, and didn't they lose four nothing?

Four nothing, right? So they were playing Nashville SC. Nashville, did they want anything lately other than a country music award? Look, I love Messi, but it's not on the same step. Not close. It's just not.

Enough email. Let's take one last break still to come. Summer League is apparently over or ready for Cooper Flag or the Mavs making the rules. right call. God help us. And who would be the best winner of tonight's home run derby, which I presume you will

watch because I won't. I will. I love it. You've compared it to the dunk contest. No. Matt McClung is not in the home run derby. Somebody from another league is not in the home run derby. Maybe he should be. He's a baseball players. Happy time, people. Happy 18th

birthday yesterday. Lemine Yamal. Will Bond, you have repeatedly called Yamal the most exciting athlete in the world. He is certainly the youngest most exciting. The Barcelona Phenom has already been part of two La Liga titles, one Copa del Rey, and one Spanish Super Cup. Just one year ago, Yomal was celebrating the European Championships with the Spanish national team.

Yomal was the youngest player ever to play a La Liga match, the youngest scorer in La Liga, the youngest player to have an assist in the Champions League, the youngest scorer at the European championships. Yamal did all these things before he was 17. By comparison, Yomal has played in more first-team games before 18 than even Pelle and Maradona. Tony, and all that is really impressive. I don't care that he's the youngest.

I just care that when I'm watching him, whether he's 18 or 38, he's the most unbelievable thing, and I cannot take my eyes off of watching him. And there are elements. I know it's a different sport. I don't mean the most exciting soccer player, the most exciting athlete in the world today. If you haven't watched him, stop what you're doing. Watch it. Happy anniversary Novak Djokovic.

On this day, six years ago, Djokovic outlasted Roger Federer to win the longest Wimbledon final ever. The final score was 7-6-16-4-6-16-4-6-13-12, a 7-3 tie breaker with the last. It lasted four hours and 57 minutes. It was Djokovic's 16th major win, and the last time Jokovic and Federer squared off in a major final. Jokevich holds a 4-1 lead on Federer in major finals.

Jokovic has won 24 major titles in 36 finals. Raphael Nadal leads Jokovic 5 to 4 in major finals, but Jokovic has beaten Nadal in all four majors. Those three players dominated tennis for most of the last 20 years. And though Jokovic is still playing at a high level, it seems not as high as Al-Kharazan's sinner. No, and Jokker now looks like Federer did, you know, six years. ago, whatever, like really capable of winning just about everything, but he can't win just

about everything. And you see the slide. And you know what? The guy deserves a standing ovation on his way out of the arena, however long it takes him to leave. Happy trails to Ethan Holiday going number one overall in the MLB draft. The brother of Jackson, the son of Matt, widely predicted to go first to the nationals and Sunday's first round of the MLB draft. But Washington and surprised many by instead picking high school shortstop Eli Willits at number one. interim GM Mike DeBartlow called Willits the best hitter and fielder in the draft. He should hope so because this selection will be compared to those of his recently fired predecessor Mike Rizzo, who drafted Stephen Strasbourg and Bryce Harper with previous

overall number one picks. By the way, Holiday ended up falling to fourth to Colorado where his dad won a batting title. Is this the start of a new day with the Nationals? Are people excited? Are they having watch parties all over town? Because the nationals have chosen first? No? No.

No, because no, because you're four years away from getting into the big leagues. He's a high school kid. No. As we've said on the show, it's a much longer gestation period. Let's get to the big finish. According to French news, David Le Cip, Victor Wembeñama has recovered from the blood clot in his shoulder. He's cleared to return to action.

Your thoughts? Watch out by the end of this coming season for the San Antonio Spurs. Watch out. Terry Francona became just a 13th manager to win 2,000 games. How significant is that? Terry Francona is a PTI favorite. That's all I'll say. The Mavs are reportedly shutting down Cooper Flagg's Summer League participation after just two games. That makes sense to you?

Yeah, you don't want to get them hurting some league. A lot of teams are shutting down their best player, their best first or second year guy after seeing him for a couple of games. Joe Povellski won the Lake Tahoe Celebrity. golf tournament yesterday with a walk-off eagle on 18. I know you were impressed. I watched, you know, all day, three days. Also shout out to Taylor Twelman for finishing fourth in that last one. Home Run Derby tonight. Who would you like to see win? I'm not going to watch. This is the dunk contest. Who would you like to see win? I love it. I'm going to root for Cal Raleigh, big dumper, of course, and James Wood. It's not the dunk contest. It's not. They're better players in this.

We're out of time. Trying to do better the next time. I'm Tony Cornhine. I'm Mike Wilbon back on ESPN tomorrow. Charles Wade Barton.