Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz hand BBC major Wimbledon boost as TV figures emerge

Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz handed the BBC a major boost on Sunday as their showdown in the Wimbledon final attracted a peak audience of 8.8million across all platforms. A whopping 8.3m viewers tuned into the showpiece match on BBC One, with last year's final between Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic only drawing in an audience of 7.6m viewers on TV, a huge fall from the previous edition's figures.

Tennis fans had witnessed Alcaraz taking on Djokovic in two consecutive Wimbledon finals ahead of this year's edition of the tournament. But Sinner overcame Djokovic in the last four this time around to reach the decider at the All England Club. The Italian appeared to be full of nerves in the opening set as he blew a 4-2 lead to fall a set behind. But he won the next three sets to secure a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 victory and lift the trophy for the first time in his career.

The BBC announced the viewing figures for the men's and ladies' final on Monday afternoon, with the showpiece match between Iga Swiatek and Amanda Anisimova on Saturday being watched by 4.1m viewers on BBC One.

And director of BBC Sport, Alex Kay-Jelski, explained: "This year's record-breaking digital figures for Wimbledon are testament to the huge appeal of the sport among audiences and the power of digital innovation to bring both new and existing fans closer to the action than ever before.

"The way people are following Wimbledon is changing but that is exciting for us as we look to tell the best stories in different ways."

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Sinner heaped praise on Alcaraz during his on-court interview with Annabel Croft after the men's final as he told the Wimbledon crowd: "Hello everyone. First of all, I would like to start with Carlos, again, amazing tournament but mostly thank you for the player you are.

"It's so difficult to play against you but we have, as you said, an amazing relationship off the court, and on the court we just try to build up and for doing that we need the best teams in the world and also you have the best team.

"So keep going, keep pushing, you are going to hold many, many times this trophy, you have already two, so."

And Alcaraz explained during his on-court interview: "Every time we play each other, I think our level is really high. We don't see a level like this.

"I don't see any player playing against each other having the level we're playing when we face each other.

"This rivalry, it's becoming better and better. We're playing in the finals of Grand Slams, finals of Masters and the best tournaments in the world. It's going to get better."