Australian Open 2024: Jannik Sinner roars back from the brink, beats Daniil Medvedev for first major title
The 22-year-old Italian has become the first man from his country to win a singles Grand Slam since 1976. Medvedev let a two-sets-to-love lead slip for a second AO final in three years.
Tennis
Jannik Sinner's dream comeback is Daniil Medvedev's worst nightmare.
Down two sets to love to Medvedev in the Australian Open men's singles final on Sunday night (28 January) in Melbourne, the 22-year-old Italian launched the most unlikely of comebacks, surging back from the brink for a 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 win.
The stunning victory earned the world No.4 his first tennis major title on debut in a Grand Slam final, and marked the first time an Italian man had won a major since Adriano Panatta captured Roland-Garros in 1976.
Sinner becomes the first Italian player - man or woman - to win an Australian Open singles crown, the title giving him an 11th in his career.
"It's a court with 15,000 people, but it feels like much more," a shell-shocked Sinner said after receiving much of the crowd's support throughout the night. "I wish that everyone could have my parents because they always let me choose what I wanted to, even when I was younger. They never put pressure on [me]. I wish that this freedom is possible for many young kids, so thank you."
Sinner was a champion skier as a young kid in Northern Italy, eventually choosing tennis to pursue professionally.
It was a heartbreaking turn of events for the No.3 seeded Medvedev, who led Rafael Nadal by two sets to love and a break in the third set in the 2022 Australian Open final only to lose in a similar comeback by Nadal.
Sinner fell to the floor at the finish of the three-hour, 44-minute roller-coaster, his player's box leaping to its feet, including the coaching duo of Simone Vagnozzi and Darren Cahill.
The win comes just two months after he helped lead Italy to its first Davis Cup title since 1976, the same season as Panatta's French Open win.
It also comes just two days after Sinner became the first man to beat Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals or finals at Melbourne Park, snapping a 33-match win streak that dated back to 2018 for the 10-time winner in Friday (26 January)'s semis.
Medvedev on two-set lead: 'Was I really close or not?'
Sinner could barely win a game in the match for the first set and a half of play Sunday evening on Rod Laver Arena, but a break towards the end of the second set showed some life in his game, even as Medvedev took a seemingly insurmountable two-sets-to-love lead.
But after holding serve at 4-4 in the third set, Sinner made his first move of the night. After Medvedev won one of the points of the match at 30-all for a game point, he couldn't convert. Three forehand errors later, Sinner claimed the third, with the crowd roaring to life in support of the Italian.
In the fourth, Medvedev missed out on a break point in the fifth game, his first chance to break Sinner's serve since midway through the second set. It would be his last break chance of the match, with Sinner again claiming the 10th game and - with it - sending the match into a fifth set.
The loss drops Medvedev to 1-5 in Grand Slam finals, including 0-3 at the Australian Open, where he reached the championship match in 2021, the aforementioned 2022 and again this year.
"I was close, was I really close or not? It's tough to say," Medvedev told reporters after. "I didn't think much about the Rafa [2022] match. ... What happened is that he started to play better and [do better] tactically.
"And I started to get tired physically," he added, having spent over 20 hours on court prior to the final. (To less than 15 hours for Sinner.)