MELBOURNE, Australia — There are all sorts of ways beyond merely the score to measure just how dominant Jannik Sinner was Sunday while outplaying and frustrating Alexander Zverev during the 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-3 victory that earned the 23-year-old Italian a second consecutive Australian Open championship.
The zero break points Sinner faced. Or the 10 he accumulated. The 27-13 advantage in points that lasted at least nine strokes. Or the way Sinner accumulated more winners, 32 to 25, and fewer unforced errors, 27 to 45. The way Sinner won 10 of the 13 points that ended with him at the net. Or the way he let Zverev go just 14-of-27 in that category, frequently zipping passing shots out of reach.
Well, here’s one more bit of evidence: what Zverev said about Sinner.
“I’m serving better than him, but that’s it. He does everything else better than me. He moves better than me. He hits his forehand better than me. He hits his backhand better than me. He returns better than me. He volleys better than me,” Zverev said. “At the end of the day, tennis has five or six massive shots — like, massive factors — and he does four or five of them better than me. That’s the reason why he won.”
High praise from a guy who is, after all, ranked No. 2. Sinner has held the No. 1 spot in men’s tennis since last June and is not showing any signs of relinquishing it. This was the first Australian Open final between the players at No. 1 and No. 2 on the ATP Tour since 2019, when top-ranked Novak Djokovic defeated Rafael Nadal, also in straight sets.