Italy’s Jannik Sinner poses with the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup at trophy presentation following the men’s singles finals against Germany’s Alexander Zverev at the 2025 Australian Open at Melbourne Park, in Melbourne on January 26, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images
Jannik Sinner claimed his second consecutive Australian Open championship on Sunday (January 26, 2025), never facing a single break point and using his complete game to outplay and frustrate Alexander Zverev for a 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-3 victory in the final.
Sinner, a 23-year-old Italian, is the youngest man to leave Melbourne Park with the trophy two years in a row since Jim Courier in 1992-93.
Sinner rose to No. 1 last June, remaining there for every week since, and the gap between him and No. 2-ranked Zverev was pronounced as can be in Rod Laver Arena. This was the first Australian Open final between the men at No. 1 and No. 2 since 2019, when No. 1 Novak Djokovic defeated No. 2 Rafael Nadal — also in straight sets.
Here’s how dominant Sinner has been since the start of last season: He has won three of the five major tournaments, including the U.S. Open in September, and his record in that span is 80-6 with a total of nine tournament titles. His current unbeaten run covers 21 matches, dating to last year.
The only thing that’s clouded the past 12 months for Sinner, it seems, is a doping case in which he was cleared by a ruling that was appealed by the World Anti-Doping Agency. He tested positive for a trace amount of an anabolic steroid twice last March but blamed it on an accidental exposure involving two members of his team who have since been fired. Sinner initially was exonerated in August; a hearing in the WADA appeal is scheduled for April.
While Sinner became the eighth man in the Open era (which began in 1968) to start his career 3-0 in Grand Slam finals, Zverev is the seventh to be 0-3, adding this loss to those at the 2020 U.S. Open and the 2024 French Open.
Those earlier setbacks both came in five sets. This contest was not that close. Not at all.
There truly was only one moment that felt as if it contained a hint of tension. It was late in the second set, which Zverev was two points from owning when he led 5-4 and got to love-30 on Sinner’s serve. But a break point — and a set point — never arrived there.
Zverev dropped the next four points, making it 5-all. Sinner then emerged with the ensuing tiebreaker. No surprise there: He went 4-0 in those set-deciders over the past two weeks and has grabbed 16 of his past 18.
A year ago, Sinner went through a lot more trouble to earn his first Slam, needing to get past Novak Djokovic — who quit one set into his semifinal against Zverev on Friday because of a torn hamstring — first, before erasing a two-set deficit in the final against 2021 U.S. Open champion Daniil Medvedev.
Beating Zverev allowed Sinner to become the first man since Nadal at the French Open in 2005 and 2006 to follow up his first Grand Slam title by repeating as the champion at the same tournament a year later.
Sinner did it the way he so often does, with an all-around style that does not really appear to have any holes. Indeed, just about the only perceived weakness might be heading to the net, but he won 10 of 13 points when he moved forward against Zverev. Compare that with Zverev’s 14 of 27, which was in part a result of the way Sinner kept slipping passing shots by him.
Watching Sinner cover the court is a bit like watching Djokovic do so, his sneakers squeaking as he transitioned from a sprint to a slide that often nearly ended in the splits.
Zverev is 6-foot-6 (1.99 meters), Sinner is 6-foot-3 (1.91 meters), and both use long limbs to propel them from corner to corner at a considerable pace and to allow them to deliver deep groundstrokes with considerable power.
And yet, as good as Zverev is — good enough to be ranked where he is; to have reached a trio of major finals; to enter Sunday with a 4-2 lead in their head-to-head series — it was Sinner who proved superior in every meaningful way on this night.
He can’t serve as fast as Zverev, who held a 12-6 advantage in aces, but Sinner’s variety and ability to switch speeds and locations might be unmatched in the men’s game at the moment. That’s a big part of why he did not have to deal with any break points.
Sinner, meanwhile, returned serves from Zverev that reached 138 mph (223 kph) and accumulated 10 break chances, converting a pair. The first, thanks to a passing shot, put Sinner ahead 5-4 after 44 minutes, and Zverev walked back behind the baseline, shaking his head while talking to his father and brother, who were seated in the front row of their courtside coaches’ box.
There was more negative body language after Sinner served out that set at love to continue his crescendo, the final note an ace at 120 mph (194 kph). Zverev trudged to the sideline, shoulders sagging, and dropped his racket on an equipment bag adjacent to his bench, a gesture that conveyed annoyance more than anger. Later, it became the latter: Zverev cracked one racket on the court and used one racket to hit another on the sideline.
Understandable, given what Sinner was doing on the other side of the net.
Published – January 26, 2025 05:15 pm IST
