Sinner rallies in Melbourne for 1st Grand Slam title
MELBOURNE, Australia — Jannik Sinner lined up a forehand, drilled it down the line and dropped to the court on his back, giving himself some moments to process how he’d managed to come back from two sets down to win his first Grand Slam title.
The 22-year-old Sinner found a way to turn defense into attack in his first major final and take the Australian Open title from Daniil Medvedev 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 on Sunday.
“I like to dance in the pressure storm,” he said of his seemingly serene approach to the most tense moments. “I like it, because that’s where most of the time I bring out my best tennis.”
It was his third straight win over a top 5 player after his quarterfinal victory over Andrey Rublev and his semifinal upset that ended No. 1-ranked Novak Djokovic’s long domination of the tournament. Only Djokovic and Roger Federer have done that previously in a major played on hard courts.
So he’s in great company. Sinner is the first Italian to win the Australian Open and the youngest winner in a men’s final here since Djokovic won his first Grand Slam title in 2008.
With Carlos Alcaraz winning Wimbledon last year and Sinner winning the season-opening major, a generation shift is arriving.
“I still have to process it, because … beating Novak in the semis and then today Daniil in the final, they are tough players to beat,” Sinner said. “It’s a great moment for me and my team. But in the other way, we also know that we have to improve if we want to have another chance to hold a big trophy again.”
For 2021 U.S. Open champion Medvedev, the loss was his fifth in six major finals. The third-seeded Medvedev set a record with his fourth five-set match of the tournament and time on court at a major in the Open era, his 24 hours and 17 minutes surpassing Alcaraz’s 23:40 at the 2022 U.S. Open.
He’s also the first in the Open era to lose two Grand Slam finals in five sets after taking a 2-0 lead — he lost back-to-back Australian Open finals, to Djokovic in 2021 and to Rafael Nadal after holding a two-set lead the following year.
Sinner only dropped one set through six rounds — in a third-set tiebreaker against 10-time Australian Open champion Djokovic — until he lost two straight to Medvedev.
Against Sinner, Medvedev started like man who wanted to win points quickly.
Standing closer to the baseline to receive serve and going to the net more regularly than usual, he broke in the third game and took the first set in 36 minutes.
He had two more service breaks in the fourth and sixth games of the second set but was broken himself at 5-1 trying to serve it out. He was successful on his next try.
The third set went with serve until the 10th game, when Medvedev was a point from leveling at 5-5 until three forehand errors gave Sinner the set, and the momentum.
Sinner won the fourth set, again with a service break in the 10th game, recovering immediately to win three points after mis-hitting a forehand so far out that it shocked the Rod Laver Arena crowd.
And so the tournament equaled a Grand Slam Open era record set at the 1983 U.S. Open with a 35th match going to five sets.
In the sixth game of the fifth set, Sinner had triple breakpoint against a fatiguing Medvedev. He missed with his first chance but converted with his next, a forehand winner, for a 4-2 lead. From there, he didn’t give Medvedev another chance.
The 27-year-old Russian has been saying through the tournament that he has more stamina than he used to, and is mentally stronger in the tough five-setters. He certainly showed incredible endurance but came up just short — again.
“I want to congratulate Jannik … you showed it again why you deserve it,” Medvedev said. “Probably that’s not your last Grand Slam, but I hope I can try to get the next one if you play in the final.”