Confident Jannik Sinner wins Australian Open

A year ago, Jannik Sinner became the first Italian champion at the Australian Open. Since then, he has also won the US Open, the ATP Finals, the Masters 1000 tournaments in Cincinnati and Shanghai as well as the Davis Cup for the second time - all on hard court.

On Sunday, he also confidently lived up to his role as favorite in the final against world number 2 Alexander Zverev. Although, as in the matches before, he did not appear to be physically beyond all doubt and also grabbed his thigh at one point, Sinner was a class above Zverev in the decisive points, who also lost his third Grand Slam final.

In the first set, the 23-year-old South Tyrolean made the first break to 5:3 and then served out to nil. At the end of the second set, Zverev actually made the better impression and took a 2:1 lead in the tie-break before making two unforced errors on his own serve. Sinner, on the other hand, ended the set very impressively after taking a 5:4 lead.

This was more than a preliminary decision - especially after Sinner's break to 4:2 in the third set. The German didn't get a break chance until the end after two and three quarters hours. The difference in the important points was striking. While the Italian attacked and was proactive in these moments, Zverev was far too passive, as he has often been in the past. It's not enough to wait for a mistake against the world number 1.

While Sinner thus also won his third Grand Slam final, Zverev is once again empty-handed after a major final after the 2020 US Open and last year's French Open. He may be the 2021 Olympic champion, but it's still not enough for the "holy grail" he's striving so hard for. Stan Wawrinka made his big breakthrough in his 36th Grand Slam tournament at the 2014 Australian Open, but Zverev was unable to do so at his 36th major. Germany has now been waiting 29 years for a Grand Slam title since Boris Becker's triumph in Melbourne in 1996.

The slow ticker