Sinner Wins Second Australian Open Title With Quiet Power

Jannik Sinner, Australian Open
Jannik Sinner (photo: Jürgen Hasenkopf)

MELBOURNE/WASHINGTON, January 26, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)

Jannik Sinner dominated his Australian Open men’s singles final against Alexander Zverev by outplaying him – at times frustrating him – and, arguably, most effectively through his simple use of quiet power. The World No. 1 was merely unstoppable.

By the end of their two-hour, 42-minute title match on Rod Laver Arena Sunday evening, that capped the 120th Australian Open fortnight, the 23-year-old from the South Tyrol in Italy won his second straight Australian Open title over the formidable Zverev from Germany, who lost a Grand Slam final for the third time.

Sinner successfully defending his AO crown on Australia Day and garnered his third major title overall with his 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-3 victory over the World No. 2 Zverev.

The reigning champion Sinner became just the eighth man after Jimmy Connors, Bjorn Borg, Stefan Edberg, Gustavo Kuerten, Roger Federer, Stan Wawrinka and Carlos Alcaraz in the Open Era to win their first three Grand Slam finals, and he’s the fifth man in the Open Era to win three consecutive hard-court majors, which includes his title success at the 2024 US Open.

Among Sinner’s other notable achievements:

He became the first Italian man or woman to win three Grand Slam titles. He also became the youngest man to win the Australian Open two years in a row since Jim Courier in 1992-93, and the first man since Rafael Nadal at the French Open in 2005-06 to follow up his first major title by repeating as the champion at the same event the next year.

Sinner wrapped up championship point against Zverev on his serve by magnificently striking a cross-court, backhand winner that capped a dramatic 13-shot rally. He did it quietly but effectively and became the first player since 1973 to earn 10 consecutive straight-sets victories over Top-10 opponents. The victory improved Sinner’s 2025 win-loss record to 7-0, and extended his current winning streak to 21 straight, which goes back to last October when he started his run by winning consecutive  titles at the Shanghai Masters and the Nitto ATP Finals, and also led Italy to the 2024 Davis Cup title.

After shaking hands with Zverev at the net, Sinner walked over to his team’s bench and was hugged by his coaches, Darren Cahill and Simone Vagnozzi.

Meanwhile, Zverev sat with his head buried in his hands. Moments later as the trophy ceremony was about to start, Sinner consoled a tearful Zverev and offered reassurance.

To his credit, Zverev proved gracious in defeat and praised Sinner in his remarks after receiving his runner-up plate.

“You’ve done all the right things, there’s no one who deserves the trophy more,” Zverev said.

“I want to thank my team. We’re trying to do all the right work. I’m just not good enough. I really appreciate what everyone has done over the last few years, back from my ankle injury to No.2 and playing Grand Slam finals again. …

“I really did think I had a chance but here I am. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to lift the trophy but I’ll keep trying.”

When it was Sinner’s turn to speak, in addition to thanking Zverev, he spoke of motivation and the desire to do well – especially since this was the last Australian Open that Cahill would coach him. Recently, Cahill announced he would step down as coach at the end of the 2025 season.

“Talking about my team, what can I say? We worked a lot to be again in this position,” Sinner said. “It’s an amazing feeling to share this moment with all of you. I know a part of the team is at home and my family, but it is amazing to share these feelings with you.

“I know Darren it’s your probably – maybe I try to convince you [otherwise] – but it’s your last Australian Open as a coach and I’m very, very happy to share this trophy with you. … You and Simone. I think you are an amazing combination of coaches. …

“For me until now, and hopefully it keeps going like this, it’s the most special Grand Slam.”

Looking back, Sinner won 84 percent of points behind his first serve, faced zero break points and converted two of the 10 break-point chances he had against Zverev. He hit 32 winners to 25 for the German, and made fewer unforced errors, 27 to 45. By the conclusion, Sinner had outpointed Zverev 107-83. He simply outplayed him, whether by outhitting Zverev from baseline or, in the case of winning the second set tie-break, with the help of a lucky net-cord bounce. There was very little Sinner did that went wrong and so much that he did that went right. It was Zverev’s most lopsided loss during a major final.

During the trophy ceremony, Zverev told Sinner: “You’re the best player in the world, by far. I was hoping that I could be more of a competitor today, but you’re just too good. It’s as simple as that.”

Later, during his champion’s news conference, Sinner was asked if he had saved his best tennis for the final and what he was most impressed about. He replied: “It was an amazing performance from my side. In the beginning of the match, I was serving really well and to try to get into the zone very fast. It was a very high quality match from my side. Second set, I got a little bit lucky in the tie-break, as we saw. All things considered, it was an amazing run here in Australia. I’m extremely happy and I share this [trophy] with the team here, family and the people I love. It’s amazing.”

Top-seeded Siniakova and Townsend win women’s AO doubles title

No. 1 seeds Katerina Siniakova of Czechia and Taylor Townsend of the United States teamed to win the Australian Open women’s doubles title over No. 3 seeds Hsieh Su-Wei of Taiwan and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-3 in two hours and 27 minutes on Rod Laver Arena Sunday afternoon.

“This is super special to me,” Townsend said during the trophy ceremony. “The last time I played on this court I was 15 and in 2012 I won the juniors here and that was the kick-start.

“Honest, being here is so special to me because this tournament was the beginning of me being able to live out my dream.”

While Siniakova and Townsend led 6-2, 5-3 and served for the match for the first time at 5-4 in the second set, Hsieh and Ostapenko rallied to win the set in a tie-break and held an early break in the decider.

However, Siniakova and Townsend fought back in the final set to prevail, serving it out for the victory. It was their second major title together after winning the Wimbledon Championships last summer. They were also semifinalists at the 2024 US Open.

“I’m happy with the way that we fought mentally and were able to fight through those tough moments and kind of overcome,” Townsend said during the team’s champions’ press conference.

Together, Siniakova and Townsend hit 32 winners and made just six unforced errors. They converted six of 17 break points and outpointed Hsieh and Ostapenko 114-96.

It was the 10th Grand Slam women’s doubles title for Siniakova, who has reached the semifinals or better at the last five majors. She’s the first player to win 10 women’s doubles Grand Slam crowns since Martina Hingis won her 10th at Wimbledon in 2015. Hingis finished her career with 13, one behind Serena and Venus Williams, who captured 14. Siniakova won her first seven major crowns with Barbara Krejcikova, then won her eighth with Coco Gauff and her last two with Townsend.

“It’s really nice that you guys are still saying it and kind of remembering it,” Siniakova said. “I’m just, like, professional athlete. I’m just, like, working hard and trying to get more and more. When you guys come and say, ‘Oh, you did this,’ I’m really excited. So, yeah, it sounds perfect.”

Around the Australian Open

• Madison Keys, the newly crowned Australian Open women’s singles champion celebrated her win with a photo shoot at the Brighton Bathing Boxes Sunday morning.

• Final day attendance at the Australian Open was 46,526, an Australian Open total Day 15 attendance record. It broke the previous mark of 46,365 set last year.

This year’s Australian Open main draw cumulative attendance for the 15-day event reached 1,102,303 spectators, breaking last year’s record of 1,020,763. The cumulative attendance, including qualifying week and main draw reached 1,218,831 fans, breaking the 2024 mark of 1,110,657.

By the numbers

• By winning his third major title in the past 13 months, Jannik Sinner becomes the first Italian player in history, man or woman, to win three major titles – surpassing Nicola Pietrangeli’s mark of two Grand Slam titles. Sinner is the 15th man in the Open Era to win multiple Australian Open titles and the 11th man in the Open Era to retain the title in Melbourne.

• At 29, Madison Keys became the second-oldest player to win her first major title at the AO in the Open Era since a 31-year-old Li Na hoisted the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup in 2014. Keys also joined 2018 champion Caroline Wozniacki in owning the record for the most AO appearances needed to capture the women’s singles title, at 11.

“Quotable …”

• “I’m doing everything I can. I’m working as hard as I ever did. I think I’m doing all the right things off-court. I think I’m practicing the right things. But I lost in straight sets today. I mean, those are facts. That is a fact. I lost to Jannik in straight sets today.

“I mean, I don’t want to end my career as the best player of all time to never win a Grand Slam, that’s for sure.”

– World No. 2 Alexander Zverev of Germany, during his post-match news conference, following his AO title loss to Jannik Sinner.

• “I felt like from a pretty young age, I felt like if I never won a Grand Slam, then I wouldn’t have lived up to what people thought I should have been. That was a pretty heavy burden to kind of carry around.

“So I finally got to the point where I was proud of myself and proud of my career, with or without a Grand Slam. I finally got to the point where I was okay if it didn’t happen. I didn’t need it to feel like I had a good career or that I deserved to be talked about as a great tennis player.

“I feel like finally letting go of that kind of internal talk that I had just gave me the ability to actually go out and play some really good tennis to actually win a Grand Slam.”

– Madison Keys of the United States, during her champion’s news conference Saturday night, after defeating World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5, in two hours and two minutes to win her first Grand Slam title, in her second major final.

 

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