عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Sports

Sinner Eyes Back-to-Back Australian Open Titles against Zverev

Italy's Jannik Sinner waves to the crowd after beating USA's Ben Shelton in their men's singles semi-final match on day thirteen of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 24, 2025. (AFP)
Italy's Jannik Sinner waves to the crowd after beating USA's Ben Shelton in their men's singles semi-final match on day thirteen of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 24, 2025. (AFP)
TT
TT

Sinner Eyes Back-to-Back Australian Open Titles against Zverev

Italy's Jannik Sinner waves to the crowd after beating USA's Ben Shelton in their men's singles semi-final match on day thirteen of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 24, 2025. (AFP)
Italy's Jannik Sinner waves to the crowd after beating USA's Ben Shelton in their men's singles semi-final match on day thirteen of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 24, 2025. (AFP)

Defending champion Jannik Sinner will look to seal back-to-back Australian Open titles and deny second seed Alexander Zverev a maiden Grand Slam crown in the men's final on Sunday.

Also on Sunday, the women's doubles final sees top seeds Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend face Taiwan's Hsieh Su-Wei and Latvian Jelena Ostapenko.

A year after overhauling Daniil Medvedev in five sets in the 2024 final, Jannik Sinner will be favorite to win Sunday's decider and become the first man to retain the title since Novak Djokovic's "three-peat" from 2019-21.

Top seed Sinner would become the 11th man to go back-to-back in the professional era, joining the likes of Roger Federer (2006-07, 2017-18) and Andre Agassi (2000-01).

Having won the US Open last year, Sinner could also become the first Italian to win three Grand Slam titles, moving past his tie with Nicola Pietrangeli, a back-to-back winner of the men's singles at Roland Garros (1959-60).

Sinner arrives in the final in top form, having won his last 20 matches.

He thrashed Australian number one Alex De Minaur in the quarter-finals and also beat rising American talent Ben Shelton in straight sets in the semis.

Physically, though, it has not all been smooth sailing for the 23-year-old, who suffered cramps against Shelton and had dizzy spells on a hot day during his four-set win over Holger Rune in the fourth round.

With a maximum 27 degrees Celsius (80 F) forecast on Sunday, Sinner may be relieved that the match is scheduled in the evening cool.

His run to the final has come while a long-standing doping case stemming from failed drug tests last March hangs over his head.

Though cleared to play by tennis's integrity authority, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is seeking a ban of up to two years for the Italian at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

The hearing is set for April.

Sinner has so far proved impervious to external distractions, though, and the extra weight of being defending champion.

"I'm trying to take the things away in my head, the pressure," he said. "Even if it's easy to say, but difficult to do.

"I will try to do that and also enjoy these moments. We won six very, very tough matches."

ZVEREV CHASING LONG-AWAITED GRAND SLAM BREAKTHROUGH

As a teenage up-and-comer, Zverev once generated the same level of excitement that Sinner enjoyed before his maiden Grand Slam title win at Melbourne Park in 2024.

However, predictions of major trophies have not come to pass for the 27-year-old German despite a couple of near-misses.

He was overhauled by Carlos Alcaraz in the French Open final last year when he was two sets-to-one ahead and also surrendered a two-set lead to fall to Dominic Thiem in the 2020 US Open decider.

Despite wielding a huge serve, one of the game's most potent backhands and decent court movement for a 6 ft-6 in (1.98m) man, Zverev is vulnerable to wilting under pressure and has struggled to shrug off perceptions of mental fragility.

Once shut down at the Grand Slams by Djokovic, Federer and Rafa Nadal, the younger generation led by Sinner and Alcaraz has more recently emerged to thwart Zverev's ambitions.

Chastened by his French Open final loss to Alcaraz last year where he tired late in the match, Zverev re-hired trainer Jez Green to build staying power for five-set matches.

He comes into Sunday's final relatively fresh after Djokovic retired injured after one set of their semi-final.

Zverev also holds a 4-2 winning record over Sinner which includes hardcourt victories at the 2021 and 2023 US Open tournaments.

But Sinner won their last match on hardcourt at Cincinnati last year when he was virtually untouchable.

With Sinner almost unmatched for the potency and accuracy of his shot-making, Zverev's best chance of victory may be in dragging the Italian into a long dogfight and putting his serve to work in tiebreaks.

"Again, my goal is still to compete with the big guys and to compete for these kinds of tournaments and try to win them," said Zverev.

"I'm looking forward to Sunday. I do feel like I have done the work, and I do feel like I'm ready for it."

Most Viewed

 
 
Sports

Australian Open Champion Jannik Sinner’s Style Draws Comparisons to Novak Djokovic 

Jannik Sinner of Italy poses with the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup the morning after defeating Alexander Zverev of Germany in the men's singles final at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. (AP)
Jannik Sinner of Italy poses with the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup the morning after defeating Alexander Zverev of Germany in the men's singles final at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. (AP)
TT
TT

Australian Open Champion Jannik Sinner’s Style Draws Comparisons to Novak Djokovic 

Jannik Sinner of Italy poses with the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup the morning after defeating Alexander Zverev of Germany in the men's singles final at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. (AP)
Jannik Sinner of Italy poses with the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup the morning after defeating Alexander Zverev of Germany in the men's singles final at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. (AP)

Of all the praise bestowed on Jannik Sinner after he won his second consecutive Australian Open championship, and third Grand Slam title overall, nothing felt as significant as the comparison made by runner-up Alexander Zverev.

Facing Sinner, particularly on hard courts, reminded Zverev a lot of trying to solve the challenge presented by none other than 24-time major champion Novak Djokovic.

"He’s very, very similar to Novak when he was at his best. They barely miss. Like, barely miss. They make you think like you have to overhit all the time to have a chance in a rally against them," Zverev said after losing to Sinner 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-3 at Melbourne Park on Sunday night.

"It’s very, very difficult to win a point from the back of the court against them — against Novak and him," said Zverev, who is ranked No. 2 but felt much further away from No. 1 Sinner in Rod Laver Arena. "(Both) move, obviously, tremendous. They’re constantly on the baseline. They don’t give you any space. They don’t give you any time."

Sinner, still just 23, is a long way from achieving just a fraction of what Djokovic has at 37, of course.

And just as Djokovic had a couple of hurdles by the names of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal to deal with, Sinner is not alone among the newest generation of tennis stars. His top rival at this point is Carlos Alcaraz, who has four Slam victories at age 21 — and won all three matches he played against Sinner in 2024.

Still, it made sense to think of Djokovic while watching Sinner extend his record in major finals to 3-0, which includes a US Open title in September.

What about Sinner is similar to Djokovic?

The never-give-an-inch court coverage. The squeaking sneakers while sprinting, stretching, sliding to reach shots that most other players wouldn't. The ability to flip from defense to offense in a split second. The wherewithal and reflexes to neutralize even the biggest servers.

Add it all up — plus a serve good enough to avoid any break points against Zverev — and Sinner is certainly formidable.

Those Djokovic-like tendencies are not mere coincidence.

Sinner, who is from Italy, modeled himself after the Serbian star.

"Game style-wise I looked up to him, trying to understand what he’s doing, how he handles the pressure moments and important moments," Sinner said. "I still believe we are different as players, because everyone is different, but for sure we have similarities. The similarities are having quite clean ball-striking from the baseline, having good movement, understanding a little bit where your opponent (is going to play) the ball."

Sinner keeps improving

The swift improvement Sinner has made over the past couple of years is unmistakable.

It's why he ascended atop the rankings last June and hasn't budged. It's why he is 80-6 with nine titles since the start of last season. It's why no one wants to play him these days.

Zverev was 4-2 against Sinner before Sunday, including wins at the US Open in 2021 and 2023.

How much has Sinner changed since then?

"He serves better. He returns better. He hits his forehand better. He hits his backhand better. He moves better. He volleys better. I mean, there’s nothing that he doesn’t do better right now," Zverev said. "I remember those matches. Before, I always felt like once I was getting on top of the rally, I was winning most of those rallies. Now it’s like he’s prime Novak. It’s so difficult to go through him."

The upcoming task will be to get better on clay and grass, the surfaces at the French Open and Wimbledon. Before play begins at Roland Garros in May, Sinner has a hearing scheduled in April in the World Anti-Doping Agency's appeal of a ruling that cleared him in a doping case.

"At the moment, I’m not thinking about this," Sinner said. "Of course, you have your moments, (on) certain days, where you feel like: ‘I wish I would not have this problem.’"

Sinner and his two coaches, Simone Vagnozzi and Darren Cahill, all talk a lot about putting in hard work to grow even more as a player.

"He's still young. ... You never know what’s (going to) happen in the future, but for sure, he is a guy that tries to improve every day — going on court, (in) practice, trying to put new things (in) his game, trying to improve physically," Vagnozzi said. "He's one of the guys that can reach the top level. I mean, when we speak about top level, we think about Novak, about Roger or Rafa."

Pretty heady company.