Jannik Sinner’s prospects looked bleak at two sets down in Sunday’s Australian Open men’s singles final. But the 22-year-old’s fortunes ultimately flipped as he rallied to defeat Daniil Medvedev 3-6 3-6 6-4 6-4 6-3 in a comeback for the ages.
Sinner – one of the form players heading into the tournament – hardly had it easy at Melbourne Park. He had to overcome three of the top-five seeds, including reigning champion Novak Djokovic, en route to clinching his first major title.
The Italian became the 28th different winner of the men’s singles title at AO in the Open Era. Since the turn of the century, Sinner is the fourth player to win AO before turning 23, joining the ‘Big Three’ of Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal on that illustrious list.
He is also the first player outside of the Big Three to win AO since 2014, when Stan Wawrinka defeated Nadal.
Sinner recalled great compatriots of the past as he became only the third Italian male to win a major, after Nicola Pietrangeli (Roland Garros in 1959 and 1960) and Adriano Panatta (Roland Garros 1976). With his victory at AO 2024, he now holds the best Grand Slam match win rate on hard court among Italian male players (73.5 per cent) in the Open era.
Sinner’s age (22 years, 165 days) makes his triumph all the more impressive. The world No.4 is the third-youngest player to win the men’s singles at AO since 1988, when the tournament moved to Melbourne – older only than Djokovic in 2008 and Jim Courier in 1992,
HONOUR ROLL: Australian Open men's singles champions
His victories over top-five opponents Andrey Rublev, Djokovic and Medvedev make him the youngest player to claim three straight top-five wins in the final three round of a major since the ATP rankings were published in 1973. He surpasses Michael Stich, who was 97 days older when he did the same at Wimbledon in 1991.
Only Federer (US Open 2007) and Djokovic (AO 2012) had previously reeled off three straight top-five wins in the last three rounds of a major on hard court.
Sinner showed plenty of mettle and mental resolve to come back from the brink. Bjorn Borg, who was 18 when he won Roland Garros in 1974, is the only other player aged under 23 to have fought back from two-sets-to-love down to win a major title in the Open Era.
By defeating Djokovic in the semifinals, Sinner matched Andy Murray in winning four of his first six meetings with a world No.1. Only Nadal (five) has won more in his first six such matches.
Sinner has now defeated Djokovic three times in their last four encounters.
He booked that match-up with Djokovic without dropping a single set, and he only dropped one against the Serbian. Perhaps this extra freshness enabled him to go the distance in the final.
Medvedev spent a total of 1,457 minutes on court across his seven matches, with his outings lasting an average of 208 minutes. Sinner, by contrast, played almost 350 minutes less, averaging 158 minutes per match).
The longest Sinner spent on court in any match was the final (224 minutes).
Sinner finished AO 2024 with 61 aces – 28 shy of tournament leader Medvedev (89) – and ranked fourth in the tournament for winners, with 247, behind Hubert Hurkacz (253), Alexander Zverev (274) and Medvedev (289).
STATS: Australian Open 2024 numbers
Sinner is now the fourth player to defeat Medvedev on four consecutive occasions at ATP level, along with AO 2024 semifinalists Djokovic and Zverev, and Lucas Pouille.
He might have done it the hard way in the final, but it made his maiden major triumph even more spectacular.