How Sinner rallied past Medvedev en route to the Australian Open title

MELBOURNE, Australia — For nearly two decades, world number one Novak Djokovic has set the template for Australian Open success.

It has been a combination of efficient and precise serves, error-free rallies and crushing defense, ability to recover ball after ball – and more. Add to that the uncanny knack of being able to produce otherworldly tennis in moments of pressure, as well as a pinch of adversity, and you have an amalgam of tennis excellence that has led Djokovic to a record 10 titles at Melbourne Park.

Djokovic's recipe for success is no secret, but despite their best efforts, no one else had managed to grasp the concept and check each of those boxes throughout the two-week marathon. At least until now.

Jannik Sinner's run to the Australian Open title is reminiscent of many of those successful Djokovic campaigns. There were long periods of domination. There were nerves of steel. And in the final against Daniil Medvedev, there was no doubt there was adversity, with Sinner having to fight back and retire after two sets to clinch his first major title 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6 -4, 6-3. .

Sinner finished the tournament as he started it – confidently hitting the ball behind the baseline with almost robotic precision. At championship point, he fired a forehand down the line, landing it inches from the baseline before falling to the court in jubilation.

“The process and hard work sometimes pays off,” Sinner told reporters after the final. “Sitting here, with this trophy now, and looking at it, I still have to realize it, because it’s one of the greatest trophies we have in our sport.”

Sunday's final punctuated a remarkable fortnight of tennis for the 22-year-old Italian, but it was a match that proved completely different from anything he had encountered in this tournament.

It was evident that Sinner was suffering from nervousness at the start of the competition. The mistakes he hadn't made throughout the tournament began to show and Medvedev, the iron man of the tournament who set a record for most minutes and sets played at a Grand Slam , played the most aggressive tennis of his career.

The game plan that Medvedev presented in the final was clear: keep the points short. He crushed ball after ball, finding angles that defied geometry, and left Sinner scrambling for answers. It was high-risk, high-reward tennis that resulted in a two-set lead after just 85 minutes.

But the hole Sinner himself had dug seemed to offer a kind of freedom. And the more he integrated into the match, the more Medvedev began to fade. The powerful passing shots that Medvedev had been making began to dry up and the number of unforced errors increased. Meanwhile, it was Sinner who played that familiar Djokovic role of not forcing anything and letting his opponent fight. He also captured key moments in the sequence and after 3 hours and 44 minutes the comeback was complete, with Sinner becoming the second youngest player to overcome such a deficit in a Grand Slam final.

“I had a feeling he could be a little more aggressive,” Sinner said of Medvedev's approach to the final. “He played really well in the first two and a half sets. I just tried to stay positive. I just tried to play at an even level and stay on the court as long as possible, knowing that he spent so much time. many hours on the pitch. The more the match goes on, maybe physically I'm a little better today.

“When you win a very important match, sometimes the match can change, and that was the case today.”

Sinner had been almost perfect before his confrontation with Medvedev. He barely broke a sweat in his first two matches, and only looked more dominant starting in the third round when seeded opponents started coming at him.

The first was the Argentinian Sebastian Baez, who managed to take only four games from him. Then it was last year's semi-finalist, Karen Khachanov, ahead of world number 5 Andrey Rublev. One by one, he dispatched them without dropping a single one.

His fiercest test was always going to be Djokovic in the semi-final, with both men on course to meet in the final four from the moment the draw was revealed.

And while there may be nothing more intimidating in the sport than standing opposite Djokovic at Rod Laver Arena, Sinner didn't wilt under the Melbourne sun and didn't hold back to seize the opportunity. Instead, he looked down on the 24-time major champion and produced a performance that left the Melbourne Park king perplexed, handing him his first tournament defeat in six years.

Sinner had given enough warning that he was destined for greatness in 2024.

His breakthrough at Wimbledon last year, in which he reached the semi-finals, appears to not only open up a new level in his game, but offer him new confidence in his ability to challenge for the biggest prizes in the world. sport. In the months that followed, Sinner rose to the top four in the world and won his first Masters 1000 title in Toronto.

He closed the season in scintillating fashion, finishing second to Djokovic at the ATP Finals, before leading Italy to Davis Cup glory. He is now the Australian Open champion.

Since that defeat at Wimbledon last July, Sinner has only lost four matches. He also beat world No. 1 and No. 3 in the space of three days, proving that Carlos Alcaraz is not the only one leading tennis' next wave of talent.

“He doesn't lack much, and that's why he does a Grand Slam, why he has a lot of titles and why he wins a lot of matches,” Medvedev said of Sinner. “I think he's in the top three, maybe five, on tour. Maybe in the top.”