Jannik Sinner has proven yet again that he is the best tennis player in the world. In yet another wonderful display of all court tennis he has defeated Alexander Zverev to win back-to-back Australian Open titles as well as back-to-back majors as he had also claimed the US Open last September.
In two hours 42 minutes the championship belonged to Sinner as he defeated Zverev 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-3.
"It was an amazing performance from my side," Sinner said. "I felt like I was in the beginning of the match serving really well and trying to get into the zone very fast. It was a very high-quality from my side. Second set, got a bit lucky in the tiebreak, as we saw. All things considered, amazing run again here in Australia. I'm extremely happy. Sharing this with the team here and family and the people I love, it's amazing."
Sinner entered the court with the mindset of being aggressive from the start and that gave him the confidence to feel the ball a certain way, and getting up a set early on added to his confidence. He had opportunities in the second with some break points but credit to Zverev for saving them. Sinner believed he got lucky in the tiebreak with a net cord.
It was how he handled situations made the difference through the two weeks.
His prowess on hardcourts is remarkable, it's where he is the most comfortable which is obvious as he has won the last three hardcourt majors, and his focus is going to move towards what he needs to do on clay for Roland Garros for grass for Wimbledon.
"I take it as positive because on the other surfaces I still have to improve, I have to see how it works," Sinner said. "I'm going to put a lot of energy in that, trying to find the right ways, and hopefully to go far also in the other Grand Slams who are not played on hard court. Then we see.
"I mean, as I always say, I'm still young, and I think I have time to adjust, especially on grass court, because I never played the juniors. It was kind of new when I arrived to the tour. Then we see. I mean, it's exactly that what I like. The difficulties trying to understand where I can improve. Hopefully I can show that when the season arrives."
While Sinner was on top of the world, Zverev remained dejected. He so desperately wanted to win his first major; he's now lost all three he's played. He said that Sinner is better than him right now, no argument. He says his serve in better but everything else the Italian does better.
He was so down that he questioned if he would ever win a major despite doing all he can to win one.
"I'm working as hard as I ever did. I think I'm doing all the right things off-court. I think I'm practicing the right things, but I lost in straight sets. I mean, those are facts. That is a fact. I lost to Jannik in straight sets," Zverev said.
"I mean, I don't want to end my career as the best player of all time to never win a Grand Slam, that's for sure. I'll keep doing everything I can to lift one of those trophies. He completely outplayed me. From the back of the court, completely outplayed me. As I said, I'm serving better than him, but that's it. He does everything else better than me. He moves better than me. He hits his forehand better than me. He hits his backhand better than me. He returns better than me. He volleys better than me.
"At the end of the day, tennis has five or six massive shots, like massive factors, and he does four or five of them better than me. That's the reason why he won. He deserved to win."
Zverev compared Sinner to Novak Djokovic when Djokovic was in his prime.
This match was such a contrast to twelve months before. When Sinner won his first Australian Open, he had to come back from two sets to love down to defeat Daniil Medvedev. Now he's the youngest man to win multiple Australian Opens since Jim Courier in 1992-93. In addition to that, with this being his third career major he passed legendary Nicola Pietrangeli for most majors won by an Italian, man or woman.
Additionally, the 21-match win streak he is on, is the best of his career. He has not been beaten since last October in the Beijing final.
Sascha Zverev was bigging to be the first German man since Boris Becker in 1996 to win the Australian Open, and just the fifth German overall to win, the last being Angie Kerber in 2016.
"It was just a difficult moment for me," Zverev said. "I mean, now for the third time, seeing somebody lift the trophy, me standing next to that is difficult because there's nothing more I want than to be able to hold one of those trophies in my hands."
The doubles championship has been won by the reigning Wimbledon champions Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten, they defeated the Italians Simone Bolelli and Andreas Vavassori 6-7, 7-6, 6-3 - the first breaker was an incredible 18-16
