“It’s an incredible tournament for me, I hope I can keep it going,” Jannik Sinner said after beating Alexander Zverev 6-3 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 in the Australian Open final. He is the first Italian man to win three major singles titles.
The match was one-sided where it counted. Zverev could not create a single break point. He lost serve at 4-3 in the first set after errors off his forehand, which Sinner kept targeting, and Zverev finally buckled on a fourth break point when a stretching volley went into the net. He left the court to collect his thoughts after only 46 minutes.
A cruel net cord swung the second-set tiebreak Sinner’s way at 5-4. One break of serve in the sixth game of the third set did the rest. Sinner closed on his first championship point, drawing Zverev forward with a drop shot before driving a backhand past him.
The shadow over the title
The win came with a case still open. In August it was announced that Sinner had tested positive for the banned substance clostebol. The International Tennis Integrity Agency cleared him of wrongdoing, but the World Anti-Doping Agency appealed and is seeking a one to two-year ban.
BBC Sport described the court as his sanctuary. Sinner’s way of coping, it said, has been to try to “isolate” himself. His coach Darren Cahill said nobody is “bulletproof.”
Sinner dropped little on the way to the final. The hot and humid conditions in his fourth-round match against Denmark’s Holger Rune proved his toughest opponent. A year earlier he had needed to recover from two sets down against Daniil Medvedev.
Zverev’s wait goes on
Zverev, 27, is the seventh man in the Open era to lose his first three Grand Slam finals, after defeats at the 2020 US Open and the 2024 French Open. He sat slumped in his chair with a towel over his face. His runner-up speech was held up by a heckler who referred to past domestic abuse allegations against him. Zverev has denied them, and a Berlin court case brought by one woman was discontinued last year.
“It sucks standing next to this trophy,” he told the crowd. “I was hoping to be more competitive but Jannik was just too good – as simple as that.”
Sources
- Australian Open 2025 results: Jannik Sinner beats Alexander Zverev to win second successive Melbourne title
- Australian Open 2025 results: Jannik Sinner beats Alexander Zverev to win second successive Melbourne title
