MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Of all the praise bestowed on Jannik Sinner after he won his second consecutive Australian Open championship, and third Grand Slam title overall, nothing felt as significant as the comparison made by runner-up Alexander Zverev.
Facing Sinner, particularly on hard courts, reminded Zverev a lot of trying to solve the challenge presented by none other than 24-time major champion Novak Djokovic.
“He’s very, very similar to Novak when he was at his best. They barely miss. Like, barely miss. They make you think like you have to overhit all the time to have a chance in a rally against them,” Zverev said after losing to Sinner 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-3 at Melbourne Park on Sunday night.
“It’s very, very difficult to win a point from the back of the court against them — against Novak and him," said Zverev, who is ranked No. 2 but felt much further away from No. 1 Sinner in Rod Laver Arena. "(Both) move, obviously, tremendous. They’re constantly on the baseline. They don’t give you any space. They don’t give you any time.”
Sinner, still just 23, is a long way from achieving just a fraction of what Djokovic has at 37, of course.
And just as Djokovic had a couple of hurdles by the names of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal to deal with, Sinner is not alone among the newest generation of tennis stars. His top rival at this point is Carlos Alcaraz, who has four Slam victories at age 21 — and won all three matches he played against Sinner in 2024.
Still, it made sense to think of Djokovic while watching Sinner extend his record in major finals to 3-0, which includes a US Open title in September.
What about Sinner is similar to Djokovic?
The never-give-an-inch court coverage. The squeaking sneakers while sprinting, stretching, sliding to reach shots that most other players wouldn't. The ability to flip from defense to offense in a split second. The wherewithal and reflexes to neutralize even the biggest servers.
Add it all up — plus a serve good enough to avoid any break points against Zverev — and Sinner is certainly formidable.
Those Djokovic-like tendencies are not mere coincidence.
Sinner, who is from Italy, modeled himself after the Serbian star.
“Game style-wise I looked up to him, trying to understand what he’s doing, how he handles the pressure moments and important moments,” Sinner said. “I still believe we are different as players, because everyone is different, but for sure we have similarities. The similarities are having quite clean ball-striking from the baseline, having good movement, understanding a little bit where your opponent (is going to play) the ball."
Australian Open champion keeps improving
The swift improvement Sinner has made over the past couple of years is unmistakable.
It's why he ascended atop the rankings last June and hasn't budged. It's why he is 80-6 with nine titles since the start of last season. It's why no one wants to play him these days.
Zverev was 4-2 against Sinner before Sunday, including wins at the US Open in 2021 and 2023.
How much has Sinner changed since then?
“He serves better. He returns better. He hits his forehand better. He hits his backhand better. He moves better. He volleys better. I mean, there’s nothing that he doesn’t do better right now,” Zverev said. “I remember those matches. Before, I always felt like once I was getting on top of the rally, I was winning most of those rallies. Now it’s like he’s prime Novak. It’s so difficult to go through him.”
The upcoming task will be to get better on clay and grass, the surfaces at the French Open and Wimbledon. Before play begins at Roland Garros in May, Sinner has a hearing scheduled in April in the World Anti-Doping Agency's appeal of a ruling that cleared him in a doping case.
“At the moment, I’m not thinking about this," Sinner said. "Of course, you have your moments, (on) certain days, where you feel like: ‘I wish I would not have this problem.’”
Sinner, coaches talk about growing his game
Sinner and his two coaches, Simone Vagnozzi and Darren Cahill, all talk a lot about putting in hard work to grow even more as a player.
“He's still young. ... You never know what’s (going to) happen in the future, but for sure, he is a guy that tries to improve every day — going on court, (in) practice, trying to put new things (in) his game, trying to improve physically,” Vagnozzi said. “He's one of the guys that can reach the top level. I mean, when we speak about top level, we think about Novak, about Roger or Rafa.”
Pretty heady company.
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Howard Fendrich has been the AP’s tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https://apnews.com/author/howard-fendrich.
More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
