Jannik Sinner has bookended his Grand Slam season with victories at the sport’s two biggest hard-court events.
After winning his first Grand Slam title at Australian Open 2024, the Italian added another major trophy to his cabinet with victory at the US Open.
He secured his sixth title of the season with a commanding 6-3 6-4 7-5 triumph over Taylor Fritz in Sunday’s final at Flushing Meadows, recovering from 3-5 down in the third set.
The result will push him more than 4,000 points clear of new world No.2 Alexander Zverev when the new ATP rankings are released.
“Incredible, no?” Sinner said when asked to describe his season during the trophy presentation. “So many big wins for me this season, starting off with Australia and then playing so well there, which then gave me confidence for until now.
“But the work never stops. I know that I still can improve, as we saw also today a couple of things, but you have to be proud with what you have, and the rest you have to go for it, you have to work for it.
“So I can’t wait for my continued process.”
AO x US
In a delightful piece of symmetry, Sinner and women’s champion Aryna Sabalenka repeated their Australian Open triumphs in New York, becoming the first man and woman to scoop both hard-court majors in one season for 36 years.
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Steffi Graf and Mats Wilander were the last to do so in 1988, the first year the Australian Open became a hard-court Slam.
Sinner and Sabalenka also won the Cincinnati titles leading in, boosting their confidence and claims to favouritism in New York.
Sinner carried that form throughout the fortnight, despite acknowledging the past month had been challenging after the news he had tested positive to a banned substance earlier in 2024 – a case of contamination in which he was cleared of any fault or negligence.
The 23-year-old dropped just two sets en route to the US Open title, winning 11 sets by scorelines of 6-0, 6-1 or 6-2.
“It is also a relief, because you work for these kind of trophies, you work for playing some big matches on big stage,” Sinner told ESPN.
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“And I’m so happy that I can take this one home with me because I had some very tough losses here, against Carlos [Alcaraz] with match point [in 2022], then last year against Sascha [Zverev], playing some good tennis in five.
“So I always knew that this could suit me very well, as a court, so I just tried to keep going, keep improving, which we still are going to do.
“But for sure we’re going to take this one with us, and we’re going to celebrate tonight, so it’s going to be very good.”
Felling Fritz in the final
Sinner played with efficiency, clarity and controlled aggression in the final, and his unforced error tally remained in single digits when he took a two-sets-to-love lead over Fritz.
He committed just one unforced error in the second set.
Fritz, enjoying a Grand Slam breakthrough, was the first American man to appear in a major final in 15 years, and the first at the US Open since 2006. He declared before the final that he enjoyed playing Sinner and that “I have a feeling I'm going to come out and play really well and win".
Aiming to become the first US man to win a Slam in 21 years – Andy Roddick was the last, at US Open 2003 – Fritz gave the home fans plenty to cheer about when he elevated his game and began overpowering the Italian, breaking serve in the seventh game of the third set.
Arthur Ashe Stadium was rocking as Fritz surged ahead 5-3, and he served for the set a 5-4.
But he couldn’t sustain his high level, and Sinner coolly reeled him back in.
While Fritz had the bigger serve, Sinner won almost 90 per cent of his first-serve points, and finished with 13 less unforced errors.
It was all over in a tidy two hours and 16 minutes.
“Some parts of it I did well, and a lot of parts of it I didn't, definitely didn't, I guess, hit the ball as well as I expected to. That's something that's big if I wanted to just go back and forth and ball-strike with him, because he's such an amazing ball striker,” Fritz lamented.
“He's the best player in the world right now. My plan A is not working. The plan B that I fall back on would normally be just like bringing everything in, being a little bit safer, grinding it out.
“That works, along with my serve, against a lot of other players, but against him, I tried to kind of bring it down, not be as aggressive, and he's just going to bully me a little bit too much.”
Sensational stats
Sinner’s numbers now make for incredible reading.
The Italian improves his win-loss record to 55-5 in 2024, including a perfect 6-0 in finals.
He has been especially damaging on hard courts, winning 35 of his 37 matches on the surface this year.
By winning the Cincinnati Masters title ahead of the US Open, he extends his winning streak to 11 matches.
He is the only player this year to reach at least the quarterfinal stage at all four Grand Slam tournaments, and by winning two of them, he is only the third man in half a century to win his first two majors in the same season.
Sinner’s incredible form surge actually dates back to around this time last year, when, following that fourth-round loss to Zverev at the 2023 US Open, he won his very next event in Beijing.
In the past 52 weeks he has won 75 of his 82 matches – an extraordinary success rate of 91.46 per cent – and won eight titles.
He has reached at least the semifinals at 12 of his past 17 tournaments, and has not fallen before the quarterfinal stage at any tournament in 2024.
Having established himself at the top of the game with such sustained consistency and success, Sinner told ESPN he was enjoying his newfound status.
“Lately there are [a] couple of upsets. Just trying to stay focused on my way, on my path,” he explained.
“Now I would say pressure is something nice to have, because if you don’t have the pressure, it means that something is missing. It doesn’t really matter what tournament you play in – the pressure’s always going to be there.
“I’m happy about that, I’m very privileged to be in this position.”