Although at the end of the previous year, the Italian Jannik Sinner had already beaten the Serbian Novak Djoković twice, the success of his breakthrough on Friday (6:1, 6:2, 7:6, 6:3) still caused a real sensation. The much more likely world number one lost at the Australian Open after winning 33 matches, where he last lost in 2018. In 2022, after a long struggle, he could not start in the first Grand Slam tournament of the year, but apart from that, this terrain is Djoković’s favorite, he has already won a record ten times in Melbourne.
It says a lot about the meeting that the Serbian did not reach a single break point during the four sets.
The 22-year-old Sinner is the first Italian tennis player to reach the final of the Australian Open, and there is a good chance that he will become the first Italian to enter the top three of the world rankings. By the way, in 1976, Adriano Panatta was the last Italian tennis player to win a GS tournament, he achieved this feat in Paris.
Compared to Sinner he only switched to tennis at the age of 13, its progress is exemplary. Since he was born in South Tyrol in a German-speaking family, like everyone else he tried skiing, which is very popular in the area, and he was among the best in age-group competitions in slalom, winning championship titles. For a long time, tennis was just a hobby and the game of his father, whom he often accompanied to play at the club.
The turnaround was brought about by the coach of the former Italian star player, Andreas Seppi, who not only spotted his talent, but also told Riccardo Piatti that they should check the guy out. Piatti trained the Frenchman Richard Gasquet, but the Canadian Miloš Raonić was also among his students.
Sinner’s backhand in a match against Novak Djoković on January 26, 2024 – Photo: Issei Kato / Reuters
Sinner then moved to Bordighera, the mountainous environment replaced by the coast, and a new career began. The fact that it was steered in a great direction was revealed already five years later, at the end of 2019. Sinner became the youngest person to break the magical dream limit of 100, i.e. he was included in the top 100 in the world. Already that year, he was on the main draw of the US Open, and at the Antwerp tournament he reached the semifinals by beating three top 100 players.
“I like that it hits the backhand at almost the same speed as the forehand”
– the words of appreciation Roger Federer said about him, whom Sinner considers his role model. The Swiss genius played an important role in the fact that Sinner became a tennis player at all, because he liked his style and movement on the court. Sinner reminds me a lot of Federer, he is athletic (188 cm), but patient, versatile, able to defend and switch without suffering.
The 2022 season was another milestone in Sinner’s career, when he reached the top eight in three of the four major Grand Slam tournaments, but he did not disappoint in Paris either, even if the fourth round was his final stop there. He was already a semifinalist at Wimbledon in 2023, but Djoković stopped him in three sets. He won the Canadian ATP 1000 tournament by beating Alex de Minaur, which is the most prestigious trophy of his life so far.
Then at the end of the year came the first success against Djoković, in the group match of the ATP World Championship, he defeated the Serb, who fought him back in the final. The Italian was also the best in the Davis Cup and played a key role in the Italians achieving the final success. (The Serbians were eliminated in the semi-finals, and the Australians were beaten in the final.)
“He’s always been very calm on the pitch and I think that’s a good attitude. He doesn’t show much emotion, which is a real serious trait. But that doesn’t mean his playing style isn’t aggressive and dominant.”
According to Hungarian time, around noon on Sunday, it will become clear whether he was able to make his dream come true and whether he will travel home as a Grand Slam winner. He will not have an easy task against the Russian Danyil Medvedev, who did not miss a big ace on the way to the final, but he overturned his semi-final from 0:2 and brought the match back from the grave against the German Alexander Zverev.
Medvedev’s record against Sinner is positive so far, with six wins and three losses. It is certain that the name of a new winner will be placed on the trophy, because Medvedev has already appeared in two finals in Melbourne, losing both times.
