Sinner, the winner: Gen Z takes control, Medvedev bites the dust | Tennis News

Despite the hype that swirled around his evident ability as a pure shot maker even when he was a teenager; Jannik Sinner, as other tennis prodigies, did not burst onto the scene immediately. He needed more time to grow into his body, make steady improvements, develop a well-rounded game and gain experience to develop greater mental resilience.His mild-mannered and understated reaction to making hory on Sunday should not fool anyone though. Sinner’s breakthrough on the big stage and arrival to this sport’s elite took place in entirely sensational, record-breaking fashion.
The 22-year-old World No. 4 from Italy came back from a two-set deficit to defeat Daniil Medvedev 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to claim a first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open, becoming the first male player from his country to do so, and only the third to win a Major. He is the youngest Australian Open champion since Novak Djokovic in 2008.

A new name etched in AO hory 🏆 ✍️ @janniksin pic.twitter.com/xcNxLtH3mf
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 28, 2024
In red-hot form after spearheading a Davis Cup triumph late last year, the Italian tore through the draw at Melbourne Park, losing just one set and becoming the first person to defeat 10-time champion Djokovic in a semifinal at the event where he was on a 33-match winning streak. It was his physical fitness and mental freshness – afforded to him a dominant tournament – that allowed him to complete the turnaround win on Sunday having spent six less hours on court than his opponent heading into the final.
Sinner becomes just the seventh player to overturn a two-set deficit in a Major final, but also the fourth to do so in the last 14 Grand Slams, a static that would make grim reading for Medvedev, who becomes the first player to lose two finals from that position after being on the wrong side of Rafael Nadal’s fairytale win at the Australian Open in 2022.
Medvedev is joined Stefanos Tsitsipas (2021 French Open) and Alexander Zverev (2020 US Open) on that l, each of whom were the high-profile members of the much-touted generation that was meant to take over from the aging trio of Djokovic, Nadal, and Roger Federer but on various occasions across different surfaces, succumbed under pressure and failed to deliver on the big stage.

Magic moments in the @janniksin camp 💙#AusOpen • #AO2024 pic.twitter.com/GzmnDM8UI4
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 28, 2024
Winning generation
Instead, it has been the generation that has come after them, led Sinner and two-time Major winner Carlos Alcaraz, that have shown both the attacking shot-making talent and athleticism, as well as the courage and self-belief, to play with freedom and truly take control of big moments on this stage. Both Sinner and Alcaraz have now defeated Djokovic at a Major, and won a title holding their nerve in the fifth set of a final.
Sinner’s victory on Sunday came in unlikely fashion, but he did not have to battle back from the brink of defeat as the scoreline may suggest, exposing best-of-five sets tennis for being as much about riding momentum, staying fit, and winning the big moments, as it is about consently being the best player in the contest.
Sinner won 142 points in the match compared to Medvedev’s 141, only meaningfully led the contest for about the final 15 minutes, and was neither the better server nor returner. But after Medvedev blew past him in the first two sets, he allowed his opponent’s level to fall and elevated his, finding more zip on his deep, penetrative groundstrokes, taking control of the baseline exchanges, and producing his best form in the crunch moments both while protecting his serve, and attempting to break his opponent’s.

Sublime from Sinner 🥕
The Italian 🇮🇹 clinches his maiden Grand Slam title 🏆
He triumphs in five hardfought sets 3-6 3-6 6-4 6-4 6-3 to win #AO2024. @janniksin • @wwos • @espn • @eurosport • @wowowtennis pic.twitter.com/DTCIqWoUoR
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 28, 2024
Medvedev came out of the blocks firing, while Sinner was tense. The Russian has strengthened his credentials as one of the best hardcourt players in the world thanks to his defence-first playing style, but instead showed he is not quite the one-dimensional player he is known to be, adopting a more attacking baseline strategy, ripping forehands and backhands, and bombing down first serves, while covering every inch of the court to suffocate Sinner who was feeling the heat of playing his first Grand Slam final.
Medvedev’s 6-3, 5-1 lead seemed more daunting Sinner’s expression than it did on the scoreboard, as the Italian cut a desperate-looking figure on court, engaged in animated discussions with his team looking tormented and shocked his opponent’s new attacking tactics, even once telling them he was “dead” during the second set.
It was in that moment that the Russian let his form dip, and given the massive time, and peaks and troughs, that best-of-five sets tennis allows, Sinner turned his fortunes around.
The Italian locked in on serve, losing just 9 points on his first serve the entirety of the last three sets. He stayed with Medvedev until the final game of the third set, when the Russian blinked thanks to his rising error count, and Sinner stepped up to take control.
From there, the momentum turned astonishingly, the crowd got behind Sinner, the patterns of play began to favour the Italian entirely as he stepped inside the baseline to unload his heavy groundstrokes, and the match was almost like a fresh contest.
Target: Djokovic
Sinner would crush a massive forehand down-the-line to force a decider, and unload on the wing on the same shot nine games later on match point. Unlike in 2022, Medvedev was never ahead, and never choked, but Sinner’s remarkable turnaround was a result of both his patience and his opponent’s lapses.
Medvedev had come into the match after back-to-back five-setters, come back from a two-set deficit twice in this tournament itself, and ended up spending more than 24 hours across 31 sets throughout this fortnight – both being a men’s singles Grand Slam record. Once the momentum turned, he simply ran out of steam to fight back.

Men’s tennis now finds itself at an interesting, inter-generational juncture. Players born in the 2000s have now won more Majors (Alcaraz and Sinner have a combined three) than players born in the 1990s (Medvedev and Dominic Thiem have one each). All that while, the player to beat remains the 36-year-old Djokovic, with Nadal, set to return for the clay season, still an entity that cannot be ruled out.
Sinner has taken the opportunity that this transitional moment has presented producing dominant performances throughout this fortnight, and showing the mental wherewithal to deal with setbacks and break through to the top of the sport, a leap he has always been expected to take, even if he took his own time to get there.