"Who said I was not rooting for Jannik Sinner?" - Chris Evert claps back at fan after bizarre 'shoutout'

Chris Evert witnessed Jannik Sinner's victory against Carlos Alcaraz in the men's singles final of the 2025 Wimbledon Championships from Centre Court's iconic Royal Box. In the aftermath of the result, the American tennis legend received a 'shoutout' from a fan for not supporting the newly-crowned Wimbledon champion. However, Evert bluntly dismissed the fan's take and laid bare her appreciation for both the Italian and Spaniard.

On Sunday, July 13, Sinner registered a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 win to dethrone Alcaraz as the men's singles champion at SW19. Alcaraz won the first set after an incredible rally, which ended with the Spaniard hitting a creative, on-the-stretch one-handed backhand to return a ferocious down-the-line forehand from the Italian, who scrambled but couldn't get to the ball.

The official X (formerly Twitter) handle of the Wimbledon Championships shared a video of Carlos Alcaraz converting the set point and how celebrities sitting in the Royal Box at the time reacted to it. Among them was Chris Evert, who applauded and cheered loudly. A tennis fan on X reacted to the video, giving a shoutout to the former WTA No. 1 and 18-time singles Major champion for not cheering for Jannik Sinner.

"Shoutout to . @ChrissieEvert for not rooting for the Ginger CLOSTEBOL 😜 #Wimbledon," the fan wrote, referring to Sinner by his hair color and his two Clostebol-positive doping tests from 2024, which led to the Italian serving a three-month suspension earlier this year.

Evert took notice of the fan's post and replied, making it clear that her applause was meant for both Alcaraz and Sinner.

"Who said I was not rooting for Sinner? I applauded the unbelievable set point and the performance of both of them that set..."

Chris Evert drew parallels between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner's rivalry and her own famed rivalry with Martina Navratilova

Jannik Sinner (left) and Carlos Alcaraz (right) with the men's singles winner's and runner-up's trophies respectively at the 2025 Wimbledon Championships (Source: Getty)

For much of the 1970s and 1980s, women's tennis was dominated by the fiercely competitive rivalry between Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova. In the aftermath of this year's French Open, where Carlos Alcaraz defeated Jannik Sinner in the men's singles final in five gripping sets of tennis, Evert told Tennis365 that the Spaniard and Italian's rivalry reminds her of the one she shared with Navratilova.

"This rivalry between Alcaraz and Sinner reminds me of what Martina and I shared in our day. There are some similarities in the way we played. I was the steady consistent one and Martina was the one who had all the shots in the book," Evert said.

Alcaraz and Sinner have now played 13 times, with the Spaniard edging the pair's head-to-head 8-5.

Edited by Sudipto Pati