There wasn’t a spare seat at centre court as a mix of royalty, celebrities and tennis legends turned out to watch Jannik Sinner defeat Carlos Alcaraz 4-6 6-4 6-4 6-4. A steely Sinner refused to give Alcaraz an opening, clinching his fourth grand slam title and exacting revenge after his gut-wrenching five-set loss to the Spaniard in the French Open final. Prince William and Princess Kate were there with Prince George and Princess Charlotte in the front row of the Royal Box, along with a host of celebrities including Anna Wintour and actors Keira Knightley, Nicole Kidman, Matthew McConaughey, John Lithgow and Paul Mescal. A row of tennis legends and former Wimbledon champions featured Andre Agassi, Stefan Edberg, Chris Evert, Lleyton Hewitt and his wife Bec. But sitting behind Princess Kate and next to Agassi was former tennis player Justin Gimelstob, who won the 1997 Hopman Cup, and Australian Open and French Open mixed doubles titles with Venus Williams in 1998. He reached a career high singles ranking of No. 63 in 1999 but is best known for a series of controversies in the 2000s. The American became a highly controversial figure in retirement after he made sexist comments regarding several female players in the 2000s. Gimelstob gave an infamous interview to radio program The Junkies, making inflammatory comments about Anna Kournikova ahead of an exhibition doubles match against the former No. 8. “She is a b*tch,” Gimelstob said at the time. “Hate’s a very strong word. I despise her to the maximum level just below hate … I wouldn’t mind having my younger brother, who’s a kind of a stud, nail her and then reap the benefits.” He added of his plans for the match: “I’m going to serve it right at the body about 128 (mph), right into the midriff. If she’s not crying by the time she comes off court I did not do my job.” Asked if he would have an affair with Kournikova, Gimelstob said: “Definitely not. I have no attraction to her. She has a great body but her face is a five. “I really have no interest in her … I wouldn’t mind having my younger brother, who’s a kind of a stud, nail her and then reap the benefits of that,” he said. He also described French players Tatiana Golovin and Alize Cornet as “sexpots”, and called Czech player Nicole Vaidisova “a well-developed young lady”. In 2018, Gimelstob was charged with the alleged violent assault of a former friend Randall Kaplan on Halloween. He denied the accusations later changed his plea to “no contest” to a felony battery charge, and was sentenced to three years’ probation and 60 days of community labour. Despite his past, Gimelstob appeared to be a guest of Agassi at Sunday’s final — he works with Agassi and his wife, tennis legend Steffi Graff. Gimelstob and Agassi attended Wimbledon together last year too. The 48-year-old was animated at stages during the final, holding his head in his hands after one thrilling rally between Alcaraz and Sinner. The sight of Gimelstob sitting in the prestigious Royal Box didn’t go down well with many viewers. Leading tennis reporter Ben Rothenberg wrote on X: “There have certainly been better moments in Wimbledon Royal Box optics than sitting Justin Gimelstob directly behind Princess Kate …” One observer wrote: “The one on the right is Justin Gimelstob? I haven’t seen him in a long time.” A second said: “Eww Justin Gimelstob, how’d he scam his way into the box?” A third commented: “Why tf is Justin Gimelstob sitting on a row with Edberg and Hewitt?!?! Another said: “Agassi’s “plus one” is … Justin Gimelstob. That’s quite the comeback.” Gimelstob served on the ATP board for a decade, resigning from the player council in 2018 and quitting his commentary role on the Tennis Channel. It remains to be seen of Gimelstob intends on making a return to tennis administration in the future. Sports Illustrated tennis insider Jon Wertheim wrote in his Wimbledon wrap: “For a thriving sport, there are still a striking number of big jobs in need of filling: WTA Chairman (Chairperson?), ATP CEO and, maybe above all, the head of the USTA, a highly fraught, highly-compensated position. “A search firm has been retained (and several candidates showed up in London to angle for the job), but there will be no announcement until after the U.S. Open.” Sinner exacts revenge on Alcaraz Sinner is the first Italian to win a singles title at the All England Club and now has four grand slams to his name at the age of 23. Just five weeks after Alcaraz staged one of the all-time great fightbacks to beat Sinner in a classic French Open final, the pair brought their battle for supremacy to Wimbledon’s hallowed Centre Court on Sunday. Alcaraz and Sinner have shared seven of the past eight grand slams between them, evenly splitting the six on offer since the start of 2024. The tennis world has been captivated by the emergence of the new rivalry after the storied era of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. Alcaraz and Sinner both played exceptional set points to share the spoils of the opening two sets, before Sinner turned the screws win the match in four sets. Sinner blew a two-set lead and wasted three championship points at the French Open, but he held his nerve in the rematch at the All England Club. “I would say mostly emotionally because I had a very tough loss in Paris. But it doesn’t matter how you win or lose, you just have to understand what you did wrong and try to work on it,” the 23-year-old said. “This is what we did. This is one of the reasons I’m here holding this trophy.” Sinner is the first Italian man to win Wimbledon, ending Alcaraz’s two-year reign as champion. “It’s so special. We were talking before the match. We would never have thought of being in this position back in the days when I was young,” said the four-time grand slam winner. “It was just a dream. This was so far away from where I am from.” Sinner said he had tried to learn from his “tough loss” on clay. “We tried to accept the loss and just kept working,” he said. Both Sinner and women’s champion Iga Swiatek have bounced back from serving doping bans in the past year to reach the pinnacle of tennis at Wimbledon. Sinner defended his Australian Open title in Melbourne in January but his career was put on hold after that as he served a three-month ban for twice testing positive for banned anabolic steroid clostebol last year. Sinner has always maintained the product entered his system unintentionally through a massage from his physiotherapist, who had used a spray containing it to treat a cut. “I am just so grateful that I am healthy and have great people around me, and holding this trophy means a lot.” Swiatek, tested positive for banned heart medication Trimetazidine (TMZ) in out-of-competition anti-doping test. Swiatek failed a drugs test in August 2024 and “accepted a one-month suspension” from competition, according to the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA).