When 18-year-old Jannik Sinner won the Next Gen ATP Finals in 2019, it was evident that the young Italian had a bright future ahead of him.
However, because many young hopefuls had faltered, there remained some doubts surrounding him, understandably.
Over the last few years, Sinner has grown immensely but had not quite had enough Grand Slam success, until now.
By claiming his first Slam title at the Australian Open, Sinner had now made a big statement: he has truly arrived and is clearly one of the best players in the world at the moment.
More than just beating Daniil Medvedev in the final, Sinner’s very convincing victory over World No.1 Novak Djokovic in the semifinals sent a huge message.
Djokovic has been an absolute principality at Melbourne Park, winning 10 titles, and so defeating the Serb in four sets was an indication that Sinner’s success in the last few months was no fluke.
After his 2023 US Open round of 16 loss to Alexander Zverev, Sinner hit a new level, going on to win titles in Beijing and Vienna.
He also had an impressive run to the final of the season-ending ATP Finals, where he significantly beat Djokovic in the round robin Group Stage.
Then, to cap it all off, the Italian was very instrumental to his country’s Davis Cup triumph, defeating Djokovic again in the final tie against Serbia.
With all of this, we should probably have seen him coming at the Australian Open.
Still, considering how much of a force Djokovic has been there and at all the Slams as a whole, it was a little difficult to predict that Sinner would capture his first Grand Slam title down under, especially as he had never reached a major final before this.
Apart from his solid, effective tennis, the confidence Sinner now exudes is admirable and a major reason he is a Grand Slam champion today.
The 22-year-old almost has a spring in his step now.
He is also healthy, so it has all come together for him at the right time.
Of course, this is not saying that Sinner will go ahead and sweep all the big titles this season, but he is definitely already a big contender if he remains in this blistering form.
He still has the likes of Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev and others to contend with, so it will not be straightforward.
However, Sinner is certainly here to stay.
When you look back on Sinner’s run to the Australian Open title, it gets more impressive; it was not a walk in the park, even though he made it seem so.
He beat Botic van de Zandschulp, Jasper De Jong, Sebastian Baez, Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev all in straight sets before his semifinal match against Djokovic where he lost a set for the first time at the tournament.
In the final, he recovered from two sets to love down to overcome Medvedev. That was remarkable.
The 2024 season has only just begun, but the thought of how the rest of it could go is very exciting.
The current top four on the ATP rankings are worthy to be in their positions and Sinner is deservedly sitting amongst them. It is about to get feisty!
