Anyone who bought a ticket for the last day of the tournament in Melbourne in recent years could be sure of seeing one of the big three. Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal or Roger Federer – one of the tennis superstars has always been there since 2006 when it comes to the first Grand Slam title of the year.
This time the exceptional players are watching. Federer has long since retired, Nadal is once again not fit and Djokovic failed in the semi-finals. Instead, the Italian Jannik Sinner and Alexander Zverev conqueror Daniil Medvedev from Russia will meet this Sunday (9:30 a.m. CET).
Grand Slam experience
For Sinner it is the first Grand Slam final of his career. The 22-year-old has only been in the semi-finals once before at Wimbledon, otherwise he has no experience with the decisive phase of the Grand Slam tournaments.
For Medvedev, however, it is already the sixth final in one of the four most important tournaments; in 2021 he even won the title at the US Open. In Melbourne he has already reached the final twice. In 2021 he lost to Djokovic, in 2022 he had to admit defeat to Nadal after a 2-0 set lead.
The path to the final
Sinner is the dominant player of the tournament so far. The Italian didn’t drop a set until the semi-finals. In the fight for a place in the final, he then dominated defending champion Novak Djokovic and ended the Serb’s super series in Melbourne in four sets. For Djokovic it was the first defeat after 33 wins in a row.
Medvedev, on the other hand, had to work much harder to reach the final. In the second round he was on the verge of elimination against the Finn Emil Ruusuvuori, but turned around a 0-2 set deficit.
The 27-year-old also had to go through five sets in the quarter-finals against Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz and in the semi-finals against Zverev. Overall, Medvedev was on the pitch for almost six hours longer than Sinner during the tournament.
The balance
The Melbourne final is the tenth duel between Sinner and Medvedev. The balance actually speaks in favor of the Russian with 6:3 wins. However, the last three comparisons all went to the Italian.
Most recently, Sinner won in three sets in the semifinals at the ATP Finals in Turin. The two have not yet met at a Grand Slam tournament.
That’s what the protagonists say
Jannik Sinner: “It means an incredible amount to me that I beat Novak here. It was a special victory. But the tournament is not over yet. A final at a tournament is always something very special, no matter how big the tournament is. I’m looking forward to experiencing this special atmosphere here in Melbourne.”
Daniil Medvedev: “I’m stronger than before the tournament because now I know that I can do some things that I thought I couldn’t do before. I’ve never had a Grand Slam like this before -Reached the final. Mentally I’m 100 percent better than before the tournament.”