MELBOURNE
– Most legends need years to achieve the successes that justify that label. Others, however, the minority, can achieve it in just 12 months. This is the case of Jannik Sinner, who with his title at the Australian Open became the best Italian tennis player of all time: the only one to win three Grand Slams and the only one to be ranked number one in the world.
The final won this Sunday without resistance against Alexander Zverev, both world number two, 6-3, 7-6(4) and 6-3, was the final step in a sprint career that has allowed him to rewrite the history of Italian tennis.
‘I grew as a person. Being 22 is not the same as being 23,’ Sinner told Australian television, sitting next to the champion’s trophy. The Italian promised that he would not go to sleep just like that on Sunday night: ’We are going to celebrate. It’s a pretty unpredictable night.’
It all began at the 2024 Australian Open, his first Grand Slam title. It would continue on 10 June of that year, when he achieved the second milestone: being the first world number one from his country since the creation of the rankings in 1973. He held the US Open title for sixty days, thus equalling the two Roland Garros won by Nicola Pietrangeli in 1959 and 1960.
Now, at the same point where his career began, Sinner defended his Australian Open title and became the only Italian to have three Grand Slam trophies. In addition to Pietrangeli, Adriano Panatta, Francesca Schiavone and Flavia Pennetta were already behind the 23-year-old.
“Sinner, world number one, won 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) and 6-3 in a flat, uninspiring and at times soporific match.”@sebastianfest at the @AustralianOpen in Melbourne.https://t.co/DrqjmUEuQw
— Clay (@_claymagazine) January 26, 2025
‘He does everything better than me, he has four or five vital shots in tennis that are better than mine,’ Zverev praised Sinner.
It is precisely the Italian’s age that makes one think that he will soon start to break not only local but also global records. He already has the same number of Grand Slam titles as legends such as the American Arthur Ashe and the Scot Andy Murray. He only needs one more to equal the Argentine Guillermo Vilas and the American Jim Courier.
Also waiting for him on the edge of the big four is Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, his contemporary and great rival in this new circuit without Federer or Nadal and with Djokovic approaching his last breaths. The current world number three, at 21 years old, already has a US Open, a Roland Garros and two Wimbledons under his belt.
Will Sinner be able to get close to the numbers of Pete Sampras, Björn Borg or the Big Three? Will he surpass Alcaraz as the most successful tennis player born in the 2000s? All these questions still have a long time to be answered. Much longer than it took him to become the best Italian of all time.