Sinner in the Australian Open final, beating Shelton in three sets

Nervousness, mistakes, a strange, almost empty sound of the ball, and even a swear word! Jannik Sinner gets off to a bad start in the semi-final against Ben Shelton, if you can call a match that ended in three sets 7-6 6-2 6-2 bad against one of the youngsters (oh God, youngsters, Shelton is only one year younger than Jannik) promising players on the circuit. Sinner wins the third Slam final of his career and on Sunday he will defend his title in the final against Sascha Zverev. The German only had to struggle for one set against Novak Djokovic who then withdrew due to a torn muscle. Zverev is one of the very few now to have a positive balance against Sinner, 4-2, with Jannik winning in the last cross, in the semi-final in Cincinnati, a tournament then won by the number 1 in the world.

the match

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There was talk of the match, which started badly with Jannik who ended up immediately behind with a break, almost displaced by Shelton’s confidence: solid on serve, good at varying the game, against a Sinner who was perhaps even suffering a little physically. The illness that struck him still left some residue and after the longest exchanges the number 1 seems rather tired. He clings to the desire to reach the final and to his spirit as a champion, recovers the break in the 4th game for the 2-2 thanks to the impeccable reading of the American’s bomb serve but is then unable to move forward. Indeed, he ends up trailing again 5-6 and when Shelton serves for the set he manages through pure character to get back on par and grab the tie break. The student of Vagnozzi and Cahill, a specialist in tie breaks (he has won 24 of the last 26 played) shifts into “outstanding” gear and leaves no escape for Shelton, who returned too confusing and left 7-2. Jannik’s push also continues in the second set which goes by very quickly: immediately broken at the start, with the American number 20 in the world unable to find order, he is in difficulty: in the third game he leads 30-15 and then 40-30, but he is sucked in by the unplayable blue in response and capable of doubling the break and closing without a hitch 6-2. Third set in which the world number 1 begins to suffer a bit physically, he maintains calm and concentration, relies on the box and Vagnozzi’s push “Aggressive on all points!” and grits his teeth. The 5th game is the one in which Sinner jumps ahead by a break, and calls the physio to have his legs massaged which are probably starting to suffer from some cramps. Next to him are two empty bottles of gherkin juice, very useful against cramps. Jannik tries to hurry, and in fact in the 7th game he breaks his rival’s serve a second time, shoots 5-2 and gets massaged again and returns to the court to close the match. He finishes 15-30 down but finds serve again and closes 6-2 in 2 hours and 34 minutes.