After his impressive comeback to the first Grand Slam title of his career, Jannik Sinner fell onto the light blue floor of the Rod Laver Arena. The 22-year-old Italian won the final in Melbourne on Sunday against Alexander Zverev’s conqueror Daniil Medvedev from Russia 3:6, 3:6, 6:4, 6:4, 6:3 and celebrated the greatest success of his tennis to date -Career. Sinner, who dethroned defending champion Novak Djokovic in the semifinals, converted his first match point after 3:44 hours in the Rod Laver Arena.
Sinner crowned an impressive tournament in his first Grand Slam final. The South Tyrolean was the dominant player for two weeks and had not lost a set until the semi-finals. For Medvedev, however, it was the third defeat in a final in Melbourne. The world number three had to admit defeat to Novak Djokovic in 2021 and Rafael Nadal in 2022. Two years ago he gave up a 2-0 set lead against Nadal, as he did now against Sinner.
Medvedev is picking up the pace
Sinner was clearly nervous in the most important game of his career so far. The Italian suffered an early break and made an unusually large number of minor errors. Medvedev, however, stepped up the pace two days after his marathon match against Zverev. In the previous tournament, the Russian had been on the court for a good six hours longer than Sinner, who had only lost one set in the semifinals against Djokovic. Medvedev was therefore interested in scoring quick points and keeping the pressure on Sinner.
He did this impressively for two sentences. He won the first round after just 36 minutes. In the second set he took serve from Sinner twice and quickly moved away to 5:1. Against Djokovic, Sinner didn’t allow a single break point in the entire game. Now he had already had to accept three breaks in two sets and looked desperately at a trainer Darren Cahill in the stands.
The experienced coach tried to calm Sinner and encourage him. And indeed, last year’s Davis Cup champion was just finally starting to find his form. Sinner shortened the score to 3:5, fended off a set point from Medvedev and had a break point himself. But Medvedev survived the critical phase and also took the second set.
David Lindenfeld, Melbourne Published/Updated: David Lindenfeld, Melbourne Published/Updated: Recommendations: 2 David Lindenfeld, Melbourne Published/Updated: Recommendations: 1
Sinner had finally reached the final. The 22-year-old made fewer mistakes and was much more powerful. At the same time, Medvedev could see the strain of the past games. From then on, Sinner controlled the rallies and took the third set to the cheers of the spectators.
The Italian stayed on the trigger and had a few break chances at the beginning of the fourth round. But Medvedev held on and still found a way to maintain his service. Until 4:5 – then Sinner managed the break and forced a deciding set. There Medvedev was completely at the end of his strength. Sinner managed the break to 4:2 and won the title a little later.
