Trailing Daniil Medvedev by a set and 5-1 in his first Grand Slam final, Jannik Sinner hit a forehand pass and pumped his fist, several times, in the direction of his box.
Outplayed for almost two sets by Medvedev, who surprised him by standing close in to return serve, Sinner was struggling. But his attitude, the way he pumped that fist and showed his resilience did not go unnoticed at the other end.
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Sinner broke serve in that seventh game of the second set, and though Medvedev held on to double his lead, a statement had been made. Two hours later, the Italian was lying on his back on the baseline after turning the match around to win his first slam title and announce himself on the world stage.
“The match was going so fast the first two sets,” he told Channel 9. “I had zero chance to play at this level, but I was looking forward to having small chances. Somehow I managed to break him and tried to win one game at a time. And that’s it.”
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It’s that attitude, that belief, and that patience, a realisation that there was no need to panic, that almost sums up Sinner as a player, not only in Sunday’s final.
Right from the moment he emerged on the Grand Slam scene in 2020, reaching the quarterfinals at Roland-Garros, it was clear that he had the game and the poise to perform under pressure, against the world’s best players, on the biggest stages of all.
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Now, he’s a Grand Slam champion – and as a generous Medvedev said on court: “It’s probably not going to be your last”.
Sinner hails from the South Tyrol area of Italy, right on the Austrian border, a place that almost has its own language. Famous for its mountains, it was where Sinner became a junior skiing champion before, at the age of 12, he chose tennis.
Skiing’s loss is tennis’s gain. Every year, Sinner has found a way to improve, adding muscle to his slight frame, transforming his serve into a genuine weapon and changing his team, bringing in Darren Cahill to join Simone Vagnozzi, whose impact cannot be underestimated.
“We were calm throughout the whole day today,” Sinner told Channel 9. “He (Cahill) kept the whole team with composure. He’s a very nice man, he has a nice family behind him.”
Sinner’s humility shines through in everything he does, something exemplified by his words about his parents as he accepted the trophy from Jim Courier, a four-time Grand Slam champion.
“I wish everyone could have my parents because they always let me choose whatever I wanted to, even when I was younger, I (played) some other sports and they never put pressure on me," he said.
"I wish this freedom is possible for everyone.”
What made Sinner’s win even more impressive is the way he did it, by coming from two sets to love down, not least because Medvedev came out playing in a style that he could not have expected.
“I was expecting that he was (hitting) the ball more (hard), but not this way,” he told Channel 9. “He came out crushing the ball, moving me around. I had my game plan, but it didn’t work. I tried to change things, but he was pushing the ball as I’ve never seen him before.”
With Carlos Alcaraz having won Wimbledon last summer and now Sinner taking the title in Melbourne, the young guns are finally here.