Steve Flink: At The Australian Open Jannik Sinner Showed Why He Is The Best Hard Court Player - UBITENNIS

Steve Flink: At The Australian Open Jannik Sinner Showed Why He Is The Best Hard Court Player

By Adam Addicott
22 Min Read
Photo by Ray Giubilo

In my view, the theme of the 2025 Australian Open was essentially the growing influence and stature of Jannik Sinner at the top of the men’s game. The Italian stylist captured his second major title in a row, defended his crown on the hard courts at Melbourne in exemplary fashion, and took his third Grand Slam title in a spectacular twelve month span with regal self assurance. Sinner reaffirmed his status as not only the game’s greatest player but also the best hard court player of them all.

Sinner would be the first to concede that it is much tougher to defend a Grand Slam title than it is to win one for the first time. He handled that challenge remarkably well, dropping only two sets over the fortnight, casting aside his adversaries as swiftly and efficiently as possible, reminding everyone that it is absolutely no accident that he stands alone as the preeminent player in tennis. Sinner is the ultimate professional, leaving no stone unturned in his pursuit of excellence, responding to the pressure of being ranked above everyone else as an opportunity rather than a burden.

In the final on the storied Rod Laver Arena, Sinner collided with No. 2 seed Alexander Zverev. Often it can be said that past is prologue,  but not this time around. Zverev held a 4-2 head-to-head lead over Sinner when they walked on court. Moreover, the last time they met in Cincinnati the showdown went down to the wire before the Italian prevailed in a final set tie-break.

But Grand Slam finals are played out under very different circumstances. Coming into this contest, Sinner had won both of his major final encounters while Zverev was 0-2. Sinner has the ideal big match playing temperament, always remaining calm, cool and collected, never getting flustered. Zverev surely carried some unpleasant memories with him as he faced Sinner in Melbourne. The German took the first two sets in his first Grand Slam final at the U.S. Open in 2020 against Dominic Thiem and went up a break in the third. He later served for the match in the fifth set but eventually suffered a brutal defeat in a final set tie-break. Last year at Roland Garros, Zverev had a two sets to one lead against Carlos Alcaraz in the French Open final but faded badly thereafter and lost in five.

Rather than believing that this time he was going to win, Zverev seemed uptight from the outset. Nevertheless, he fought hard in the first set. At 1-2, he held on from 15-40, connecting with four first serves in a row, and then pushed Sinner to two deuces in the following game. At 3-4, Zverev battled fiercely to hold in a four deuce game but failed to take advantage of two game points. He was broken after approaching meekly down the middle, allowing Sinner to easily lace a forehand pass up the line to reach 5-3. The top seed released an ace down the T for 15-0 in the ninth game, then produced a terrific forehand pickup with astonishing pace for 30–0. Next, he covered the net with alacrity and put away a backhand volley for 40-0 and closed out that immaculate love game with an ace out wide. Set to Sinner, 6-3.

Zverev realized he had to win the second set. Despite ongoing struggles with his normally reliable and dynamic two-handed and less surprising issues with his forehand, he had his chances. He held on from 15-40 to reach 2-1 without missing a first serve on another four point run. With both men holding on comfortably from there, Sinner served to stay in the set at 4-5. But the 23-year-old dealt ably with a stressful situation. At 0-30, his wide serve in the deuce court compromised Zverev. The return was weak and Sinner stepped in for a forehand swing volley winner. He then produced a service winner down the T before going out wide with another un-returnable first serve at 30-30. Sinner closed out that hold to reach 5-5 on an errant backhand down the line from Zverev.

At 5-6, 30-30, Sinner was once more two points from losing the second set. And yet, he proceeded to win the finest point of the match which lasted 21 strokes. Zverev chased down a drop shot from Sinner midway through that exchange, but Sinner lob-volleyed over his head. The German ran that ball down and tossed up a tremendous defensive lob that Sinner could not put away on the overhead. Soon Zverev came back up to the net, but he could not get the sharp angle he needed on a backhand volley and Sinner passed him clearly down the line off the backhand. Zverev then met some more misfortune when his forehand crosscourt clipped the net cord and landed wide. It was 6-6.

The two competitors went to a tie-break. Zverev had the initial mini-break for 2-1 but lost the next two points on his serve. At 4-4, Sinner’s forehand net cord winner was a fatal blow to Zverev. The Italian followed with a service winner out wide to reach 6-4 and then clipped the line with a forehand winner down the line to seal the tie-break 7-4. It was his 16th tie-break triumph in the last 19 he has played, including all four he contested at this Australian Open.

For all practical purposes, the match was over. Sinner is far too good a front runner these days to allow a two sets to love lead to slip from his grasp. On his way to 3-2 in the third set, Sinner won 12 of 13 points on serve. Then he broke for 4-2, held after two deuces for 5-2, and closed it out at 5-3 on serve. Serving at 40-30 in the ninth game, he employed the drop shot as he had done so effectively the whole match, and Zverev steered his forehand response down the line. Sinner was more than ready, snapping a backhand passing shot crosscourt for a winner to put an exclamation point on a 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-3 victory.

Over the course of those three sets, Sinner never even faced a break point on his serve. Only twice before in a Grand Slam final during the Open Era had other men realized that extraordinary feat. Roger Federer did it against Mark Philippoussis in the 2003 Wimbledon final when he took his first of eight titles at the All England Club, and Rafael Nadal achieved the same feat in his 2017 U.S. Open final round victory over Kevin Anderson.

Neither Anderson nor Philippoussis were known as great returners but Zverev is rarely unable to give himself opportunities to break even the best of servers. In the end, the failure to do so was the key to his demise.  

Route to the final 

Let’s examine how Sinner and Zverev made their way into the final, starting with the Italian’s path. Sinner commenced his quest as the defending champion with a hard fought, first round skirmish against the dangerous Nicolas Jarry. The Chilean served 13 aces, poured in 72% of his first serves and unleashed 40 winners against Sinner. But the sturdiness of Sinner enabled him to prevail 7-6 (2), 7-6 (5), 6-1. In those three sets he committed a mere 12 unforced errors compared to 50 made by Jarry. Sinner did not break serve until the third set but by then he was clearly on his way to victory.

Next on the agenda for the top seed was the wild card Tristan Schoolkate, an Australian with an attacking game and a crowd cheering his every move. Sinner took a while to figure out an opponent who was coming at him full force. But, after losing the opening set, Sinner was unswerving. He rallied to secure a 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-3 victory. After the first set, Sinner did not lose his serve again while his return of serve improved significantly. Nonetheless, Schoolkate tested the favorite impressively, winning 32 of 43 points when he approached the net.

In his third round contest against the industrious American Marcos Giron, Sinner was sharper across the board in recording a 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 victory. He won 82% of his first serve points, lost his serve only once, and looked entirely comfortable as the match unfolded. On to the round of 16 he went with that decisive win.

But on an oppressive day against a tenacious adversary, Sinner was in some serious trouble. Facing Holger Rune, he looked wobbly on the court, seemed to be shaking at the changeovers, and even needed a medical timeout during the third set in the locker room to deal with his dizziness. But Sinner, who dropped the second set as Rune made it one set all, escaped at 1-1 and again at 2-2 in the third set when he had to erase break points against him.

Fortunately for the favorite, Rune had his own issues with an ailing knee. The Danish competitor had survived two five set matches and one long four set duel, and he was spent. Sinner gradually found his equilibrium and eventually prevailed 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 over the No. 13 seed to move on to the quarterfinals. Playing No. 8 seed Alex de Minaur in that round, Sinner was sublime. He raised his record to 10-0 over the Australian with a comprehensive 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 triumph, winning 32 of 38 first serve points and 17 of 21 on his second delivery, facing only one break point in the one hour, 48 minute encounter.

Now Sinner took on the left-handed American Ben Shelton who was appearing in his second major semifinal and his first at the Australian Open. Shelton’s one and only hope to produce a major upset was to win the first set against the world’s top ranked tennis player.  He very nearly managed to realize that goal.

The athletic American imposed himself frequently in the early stages of this appointment. He broke Sinner in the opening game, immediately lost his own serve, but stayed with his adversary diligently. At 5-5 he broke Sinner again as the Italian started pressing off the forehand. Shelton served for the set in the twelfth game and had two set points, but he lost a 20 stroke rally on one of them when he was forced into a forehand error, and made a flagrant forehand down the line unforced error on the other. Sinner broke back and swiftly established a 5-0 tie-break lead as Shelton self-destructed off his streaky forehand side. Sinner succeeded 7-2 in that sequence and never really looked back, reaching the final with a 7-6 (2), 6-2, 6-2 victory despite some physical issues.

As for Zverev, his passage through the tournament was not remotely like his customary way of doing it. Zverev has a history of getting bogged down in unnecessarily arduous and long battles all the way through majors that catch up with him in the tail end of Grand Slam tournaments and lead to bruising defeats. This time around, he was remarkably efficient from the first round on. Facing the Frenchman Lucas Pouille— who reached the semifinals of the 2019 Australian Open before losing to Novak Djokovic— Zverev released 18 aces in a routine 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 win. Although Pouille saved 15 of 18 break points against him, he never broke the No. 2 seed. Confronting Spain’s Pedro Martinez in the second round, Zverev saved all six break points he faced and glided to a 6-1, 6-4, 6-1 victory. In a third round meeting against Great Britain’s Jacob Fearnley, Zverev was once more a straight sets victor, advancing 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.

For the first time in the tournament, Zverev conceded a set in the round of 16 but still he was a straightforward 6-1, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 winner over the Frenchman Ugo Humbert. Zverev struck 19 aces and went unbroken in the first, third and fourth sets. Against No. 12 seed Tommy Paul in the quarterfinals, Zverev came through 7-6 (1), 7-6 (0), 2-6, 6-1 but he was fortunate to capture the first two sets. 

Paul served for the first set at 6-5 against the 2023 semifinalist, and reached set point— only to make an error. Zverev broke back and was unstoppable in the tie-break. In the second set, Paul served for the set at 5-3 but played a terrible, error-strewn game. He still had a set point with Zverev serving in the tenth game but could not convert. Once more, the German dominated the tie-break and did not lose a point. Despite seemingly losing his energy in the third set, Zverev recouped pridefully in the fourth to compete the victory.

That triumph lifted the German into a semifinal duel against the No. 7 seed and ten time champion Djokovic. They fought in the mid-afternoon sunshine for an hour and 21 minutes. Zverev had five break points and Djokovic garnered three, but neither man broke serve. They went to a tie-break and Zverev took it 7-5 when the Serbian netted an easy forehand volley from close to the net. Playing with a muscle tear in his leg, Djokovic knew there was no point in continuing in that compromised state. He walked up to the net and shook hands with Zverev, retiring after one set and sending the German into his third Grand Slam tournament final.

Good run for Djokovic 

It had been a morale boosting fortnight for the 37-year-old Djokovic who was determined to collect a 25th Grand Slam title. He was struggling somewhat in the first two rounds, winning both matches in four sets. Then he took his game to an entirely different level, crushing No. 26 seed Tomas Machac 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 in the third round and taking apart Jiri Lehecka 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (4) in the round of 16.

Buoyed by those wins, Djokovic collided with No. 3 seed Carlos Alcaraz in the quarterfinals in the most absorbing match of the tournament. At 4-4 in the first set, however, Djokovic sustained his left hamstring injury. After losing his serve in that game, he took a medical timeout. Alcaraz easily served out that first set before Djokovic opened up a 3-0 second set lead. The Spaniard got back on serve but Djokovic pounced when Alcaraz served at 4-5, breaking at love to make it one set all.

Thereafter, his tennis was inspirational. Alcaraz was confounded once Djokovic was able to move with his usual alacrity, and the 37-year-old took command the rest of the way with perhaps the best tennis he has played since the end of 2023– with the possible exception of his 7-6, 7-6 victory over Alcaraz in the final of the Olympic Games last summer at Roland Garros. His ball striking sparkled, his shot selection was impeccable, and his second serve was biting and unanswerable. He won 58% of his second serve points in the match. Djokovic surged to 4-2 in the third, lost his serve in the next game, but broke right back. He closed that set out at 5-3 by chasing down a low volley from Alcaraz and tossing up a superb defensive lob. Alcaraz then came in off the forehand but the Djokovic backhand pass was too good.

Now leading two sets to one, Djokovic got the early break in the fourth and surged to 4-2. He had a break point in the seventh game but Alcaraz outperformed him in a scintillating 35 stroke exchange and held on to keep it close. But a resolute Djokovic rallied from 15-40 to make it to 5-3. Two games later, he served out the match, raising his career record to 5-3 over Alcaraz with an exhilarating 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 win.

He played so magnificently to reach the penultimate round that I believed he could win the tournament. But he needed pain killers that evening to get through a strenuous match. He did not hit a ball the next two days until about an hour before he faced Zverev, when he had a very light practice session. Against Zverev he gave a good effort to get to the tie-break but it was apparent all along that he was not even close to one hundred percent. His retirement after losing the first set was understandable, but some members of the crowd in Rod Laver Arena chose to boo him as he walked off the court. He deserved better than that. A lot better.

Be that as it may, Djokovic had every reason to leave Melbourne feeling very good about his game. He will heal in the weeks ahead from the hamstring injury and give himself a serious chance to win one of the remaining three majors this season. I believe he will realize that feat and secure a 25th major. I also am just as convinced that Sinner has at least one more major in him this season and possibly two. Sinner’s chief concern must be his upcoming doping case that will be decided by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which will hold a hearing on April 16-17. If Sinner is not suspended, he will inevitably celebrate a season in 2025 that strikingly resembles the lofty standards he set a year ago.

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