Immovable Sinner retains Australian Open title in fearless style

MELBOURNE – A humming precision instrument from a village in Italy, 1.92m high, of formidable efficiency and dependable power, triumphed at the Australian Open on Jan 26 night. Defending champion Jannik Sinner of Italy incredibly did not give up a single break point all night and aggressively and systematically picked apart the uneven challenge of Germany’s Alexander Zverev. Fearless consistency is not pretty but it is devastating.

Anyway sport is not a beauty contest, it is mostly a patient grind, a holding of nerve, a seizing of the moment, a commitment to plan. Simple, difficult things. One might say what Sinner produced was a methodical masterpiece. The world No. 1

beat the No. 2 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3

and finally the 23-year-old young champion allowed himself some emotion. He raised his arms, his cap came off, his hair tumbled out and a concentrated assassin turned into a smiling choir boy. Later he admitted himself, “it was an amazing performance from my side.”

Both players have been to three Grand Slam finals. One man has never lost one, the other has never won one. Acutely aware of his rival’s despair, Sinner consoled a crying Zverev and told him his time would come. It was a telling picture of a graceful champion.

Sinner began the first set with a 200kmh ace and ended it with a 194kmh one. He is a lean, angular fellow with no apparent muscle but both his racket and sneakers move at formidable speed. Stable might sound like a limp compliment, but it means firm, sturdy, fixed and it’s how Sinner is under the meanest pressure. He is an immovable object and a talent not easily rattled. It is why Zverev said: “You’re the best player in the world by far.”

We’ve been so spoilt by a Serb-Spanish-Swiss combination which won 24, 22 and 20 Slams respectively that Sinner’s three Slams – all on hard court – appear modest. But look closer. He is on a list of eight men who won their first three Grand Slam finals and Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic aren’t on it. In 2024 he lost only six matches out of 79 and is currently on a 21-match winning streak. One might say he is laying the impressive foundations of what might be a magnificent career.

Sinner’s steadiness almost makes him look unsolvable. Zverev once even hit a 218kmh second serve, but the unmoved Italian pushed and prodded and finally produced two sterling shots to break in the eighth game of the first set. First, a Zverev volley was hunted down for a forehand pass. Then a running backhand pass of stinging beauty was drilled down the line.

Adriano Panatta, the last Italian man to win a Grand Slam title, was a dashing fellow, who dove for volleys as if he was an off-duty goalkeeper and so excited his countrymen that they hurled coins to annoy his rivals. Sinner is a more saintly type, who is not in tennis for the drama but the defeating.

Zverev stayed close to Sinner in the second set but couldn’t ever get ahead. At 5-6, 30-30, Sinner serving, both men played a delicious 21-shot rally involving a drop shot, a lob and a passing shot. This, too, Sinner won. In the ensuing tiebreak, at 4-4, Zverev serving, the ball hit the net cord, crept over and won Sinner the point. Even luck was taking sides. Two points later the Italian dusted the line with a forehand and was two sets ahead.

Later, explaining how impregnable Sinner is, Zverev said: “I’m serving better than him, but that’s it. 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.”

A Grand Slam title is both a final battle and a 15-day campaign. Sinner has been dizzy, he has cramped and he has been asked questions about the doping controversy which engulfed him last year. The International Tennis Integrity Agency cleared him of wrongdoing but the World Anti-Doping Agency has

appealed against that decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

His future is unknown but that a shy athlete still held his focus tells us who he is within. “I keep playing like this,” he explained, “because I have a clear mind on what happened. If I know if I would be guilty, I would not play like this.”

His coach, Simone Vagnozzi, said he saw a different Sinner to the one who won here in 2024. “Little bit with more confidence, with more calm.” Then he added: “When we speak about top level, we think about Novak, about Roger or Rafa. We are still long way, but for sure he is one of the guys that can try to reach this kind of player.”

Already there is talk of Paris and Wimbledon, titles he wants to win – “you have to be a complete player, not only one surface,” he conceded – but first Sinner will inhale this moment. One of the loveliest sights of the night was him striding down a corridor later. A gloved gentleman walked beside him, ready to carry the trophy but Sinner would not be separated from it. So there he was, sizeable silverware under slim arm. Man, one might say, of mettle.