In the “perfect final” of the Australian Open, between the two best-ranked tennis players today, number one prevailed. And with ease.
Italian Jannik Sinner beat Alexander Zverev by an imposing 3 sets to 0 (6/3, 7/6 and 6/3) and reached his second consecutive championship in Melbourne, frustrating the German’s third attempt to lift a Grand Slam trophy (a series that brings together the four main tournaments on the circuit, or majors).
This is the third major won by the Italian, who at 23 years old becomes the first in his country to achieve the feat. In 2024, in addition to the Australian Open, he won the US Open, against the American Taylor Fritz. In his career, he now has 19 titles.
The triumph comes on the heels of Sinner’s best professional record in hard court Grand Slams: there were 20 consecutive victories until the decision. Although the Italian had won the two major finals he played in previously, the overall record between the two weighed in favor of Zverev.
After this Sunday, the 27-year-old German saw his advantage diminish: he now has four wins and three defeats in the history of clashes between the two. In Grand Slam matches, there are two wins for each side.
Sinner beat Denmark’s Holger Rune in the round of 16, Australia’s Alex de Minaur in the quarters and Australia’s Ben Shelton in the semis.
Already on Zverev’s path to the final were Frenchman Ugo Humbert, American Tommy Paul and Serbian Novak Djokovic, who abandoned the semi-final due to a muscle injury after the German won the first set.
Until the decision, both finalists had lost only two sets each during the competition.
Due to Sinner’s technical superiority, some commentators pointed out that Zverev’s best chance of victory was to take the sets to the tiebreak and prolong the match. It didn’t work.
With precision in his moves and ease in changing the direction of the ball, the Italian played the first set with some tranquility. The number two improved in return in the middle of the set, but Sinner maintained offensive and defensive superiority, broke his opponent’s last serve and closed the set with an ace.
The second set had few and unused break chances (only two against Zverev’s serve) and was decided in the tiebreak, in which Sinner took advantage of his right hand to conclude the tiebreaker 7-4. Zverev, who saw his performance improve in the match, he took out his frustration on his racket, the frustration of losing the tiebreaker, hitting it against the ground and against other rackets.
The number one closed the third set, the fastest of the match, at 43 minutes, 6-3, with a left shot, deep, after calling Zverev to the net. Very effective on serve, the Italian didn’t give up any chance of breaking to his rival throughout the game.
Controversies
In addition to their high technical level, tennis players have recently been in the spotlight for controversial situations. Sinner faces an accusation from the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada), which asks for a suspension of up to two years for the Italian at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) after the identification of a drug in anti-doping tests carried out in March of the year past.
Sinner’s defense claims that there was accidental contamination caused by one of his physiotherapists, who gave him a massage after using a spray on a wound on his hand. Accepted by the International Tennis Integrity Agency (Itia), the version is questioned by Wada, which is awaiting analysis of the appeal at CAS in a closed hearing scheduled for April.
On the other side, Alexander Zverev was the target of accusations of domestic violence by two ex-partners. Made public in 2020, the first complaint was not registered in the criminal sphere, but motivated an internal investigation by the ATP (Association of Professional Tennis Players), which concluded that there was no evidence to prove abuse or non-compliance with the association’s rules.
The second complaint, made by the mother of Zverev’s daughter, born in 2021, came to light after he received, in October 2023, an order from a German court that sentenced him to pay a fine of 450 thousand euros (the equivalent of around of R$2.4 million at the time) for accusations of bodily harm against Brenda Patea.
The tennis player, who has always denied all accusations, filed an appeal against the decision, which led to a trial scheduled for May 2024. The procedure was closed before a conclusion after a peaceful agreement between the parties was announced, in that the player agreed to pay 200 thousand euros (R$ 1.1 million) directed to the State and charities.
For the Australian Open runner-up, the German should receive the prize of 1.9 million Australian dollars (R$7.1 million at current prices), while Sinner will win the prize of 3.5 million Australian dollars (R $13.1 million).
