Novak Djokovic ‘was healthy’ at the Australian Open, his coach Goran Ivanisevic has confirmed.

There were rumours that came out of Serbia following his loss to Jannik Sinner that Novak Djokovic was ill the night before the match.

They followed reports from before the tournament that the 24-time major winner was struggling with an elbow injury.

But, despite previously admitting Djokovic was ‘somehow not right’ throughout the entire Australian Open, Ivanisevic says it was not a health issue.

“No, nothing bothered him, he was healthy, but it just didn’t work out,” Ivanisevic told Sportklub.

“It can happen to him too, he is flesh and blood. On the other hand, if he had to have lost to someone, then I’m glad it was Sinner.”

Novak Djokovic ‘somehow not right’ in Australia

Novak Djokovic was the hot favourite to win the Australian Open, but largely because he is always the favourite by default in Melbourne.

His record is so good there that it is approaching Rafael Nadal Roland Garros levels of dominance.

The defeat to Sinner snapped a 33-match winning streak for Djokovic at the Australian Open, but Ivanisevic is remaining philosophical about it all.

“Sooner or later he had to lose, we all knew that,” he said.

“It’s just a shame that it happened this way, but against Sinner if you’re not 100%, you have little chance. And even when you’re at 100%, you can still lose.

“However, the whole Australian Open Novak was somehow not right, from the first round onwards. Well, let’s move on, it’s nothing that tragic.”

READ NEXT: Carlos Alcaraz told he has one vulnerability that ‘leaves a lot to be desired’

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The post Novak Djokovic ‘was healthy’ at Australian Open, confirms coach appeared first on Tennishead.

Jannik Sinner has been compared to 20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer by skiing legend Lindsey Vonn, following the Italian’s maiden Grand Slam triumph.

Sinner became the first Australian Open singles champion from Italy this time last week, after fighting back from two sets down to beat Daniil Medvedev in the final.

And Vonn, who is a big fan of tennis, revealed that she was not surprised Sinner was victorious in Melbourne, “He’s just a great athlete, very smart and I’m not surprised that he won Australia. I thought he would win before he did, but he’s someone that’s going to be around for a long time.”

Sinner is also no stranger to skiing, having competed growing up, but elected to choose tennis and has come to know Vonn in recent years.

Vonn went onto draw comparisons of Sinner to former No.1 Federer, “He really reminds me of Roger, to be honest. If he’s under pressure, and he’s got to serve, he’s got match point or something, the perspective is that if he misses the point, nothing is going to happen.”

The 2010 Olympic champion continued, “It’s not like in skiing, where if you don’t take the turn right, you crash, and you could potentially hurt yourself very badly. So it’s the kind of fearlessness that he puts everything out there no matter what the situation. And that perspective, I think, is really different from most people, most athletes, and I think he uses that to his advantage.

“In just the few years that I’ve known him, I definitely see his confidence level growing. He’s talked about it publicly, but [he is] just getting stronger physically. He’s a really tall, lanky man and he’s definitely trying to fill that out and get stronger. But he’s just maturing, he’s growing and he’s only going to get better. I’m excited to watch him continue to succeed in his career.”

Let’s F*ing go Jan!!!!! ???????????????????????? @janniksin https://t.co/qvfox5mA2t

— lindsey vonn (@lindseyvonn) January 27, 2024

Sinner has elected to skip defending his title in Marseille next week, but will return for the ATP Tour for the event in Rotterdam beginning 12th February.

Inside the baseline…

It is obviously too early to know whether Jannik Sinner’s career will become anywhere near that of Roger Federer’s, but the Italian’s mentality is definitely something that stands out as a huge positive. This showed hugely in the Australian Open final against Daniil Medvedev, where Sinner had to really dig dip in his first major final to produce an almighty comeback against a very strong opponent.

READ NEXT – Andy Murray Schedule: Where is the three-time Grand Slam champion attempting to return to form?

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Jannik Sinner won his first Grand Slam title last Sunday, leading to Rafael Nadal’s uncle and former coach claiming that this victory confirmed that he would be Carlos Alcaraz’s ‘greatest rival’.

Sinner fought back from two sets down in the Australian Open final against Daniil Medvedev last week, becoming the first Italian in history to win the singles title in Melbourne.

And Toni Nadal, who is currently the coach of Felix Auger-Aliassime, revealed his fear after the conclusion of the tournament, “Once the match was over, I commented something else to my children and to my daughter, who had called us to comment on the Italian’s victory that had made such a great impression on her in the recent Davis Cup in Malaga.

“I fear that this great and significant step could change the tennis landscape in the coming years.”

Sinner has massively improved his head-to-head against top 10 players in recent months, having won 12 of his last 13 matches against players including Novak Djokovic, and the aforementioned Alcaraz and Medvedev.

These improvements to Sinner’s game have caused Toni Nadal to have a change in mindset about the 22-year-old, “Although Sinner had long been considered Carlos Alcaraz’s most likely rival, he lacked a victory of this magnitude to confirm it.

“[On Sunday] certain doubts that somewhat overshadowed his poise when playing high-tension matches were dispelled. There is little doubt that he has been the player with the greatest improvement in this last year. He has been able to defeat virtually everyone in the top 10, including Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic.”

Toni Nadal concluded, “And without a doubt, also, the confirmation that he will be our tennis player’s [Alcaraz] greatest rival in the coming years. The most logical thing is to think that, from now on, the two of them will be the ones who will compete for supremacy on the world list.”

A special place to come home to, thank you for all the love ????????

Un rientro molto speciale???? Grazie Roma! Grazie di cuore a tutti per l'affetto! ???????? pic.twitter.com/K4UDYzXhmD

— Jannik Sinner (@janniksin) January 31, 2024

Sinner is currently enjoying his victory in his home country, bringing the Australian Open title to the Italian capital of Rome, and is scheduled to next compete at the ATP 500 event in Rotterdam.

Inside the baseline…

Jannik Sinner has been the best player on the ATP Tour alongside Novak Djokovic since the US Open, and has actually beaten the world No.1 three times in that period. Most people already saw Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz headlining the sport for the next 10 years, alongside Holger Rune, so it is interesting that Toni Nadal needed to see this victory to 100% confirm that.

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The post Jannik Sinner’s Australian Open victory ‘could change the tennis landscape’ claims top coach appeared first on Tennishead.

Carlos Alcaraz became the youngest ever world No.1 in history in 2022, but former professional tennis player Paolo Bertolucci believes that Jannik Sinner has the edge ‘mentally’.

Alcaraz made only his third career appearance at the Australian Open last month, resulting in his best performance of reaching the quarter-final.

While the Spaniard exited the tournament at the last eight stage, his rival Sinner went onto claim his first major title in Melbourne.

A special place to come home to, thank you for all the love ????????

Un rientro molto speciale???? Grazie Roma! Grazie di cuore a tutti per l'affetto! ???????? pic.twitter.com/K4UDYzXhmD

— Jannik Sinner (@janniksin) January 31, 2024

And Sinner’s compatriot, Bertolucci, has compared the two, “In my opinion, Alcaraz has an incredible technical background, even physically, but mentally he is light years away from Sinner,”

Alcaraz has spoken about his desire to produce ‘impossible’ shots for fans, but Bertolucci has suggested that this can come to the detriment to some of the 20-year-old’s results.

“He looks for something else besides the point, many times he seems to be having fun and involving the public because his tennis is made up of special effects,” claimed the former No.12. “Content with making a point, he wants to do it with a double somersault, with a somersault. These are beautiful things, which drive you crazy, but sometimes they make you lose games.

“There are moments when everything is easy and you can let yourself go. But if you find three ties in the third set you have to go solid and he has been lacking lately from this point of view.”

Despite the damning verdict on Alcaraz’s mentality, Bertolucci believes that the world No.2 has time on his side, “He is two years younger than Sinner, he is very young and if they manage to channel him he will be a splendid player to be admired for a long time. Otherwise, it will be fluctuating with very high peaks and sudden drops.”

Inside the baseline…

It is an interesting point of view from Paolo Bertolucci, who is likely to have at least some unconscious bias, being from the same country as Jannik Sinner. That being said, there is definitely something to his point, as Carlos Alcaraz can appear to lose concentration in certain stages of matches. However, on the whole Alcaraz is achieving things that have never been done before at his age, so it is hard to be too critical.

READ NEXT: Daniil Medvedev ‘one of the most underappreciated players ever’ claims former US Open champion

Carlos Alcaraz vs Jannik Sinner 

Alcaraz may have achieved more than Sinner in terms of titles, but it is in fact the latter that has the better of their head-to-head:

Carlos Alcaraz

Age: 20

Career-high Ranking: No.1

Titles: 12

Grand Slam Titles: 2 (US Open 2021 & Wimbledon 2023)

Masters 1000 Titles: 4 (Miami 2022, Madrid 2022 & 2023, Indian Wells 2023)

ATP Finals Best Result: Semi-finals (2023)

Jannik Sinner

Age: 22

Career-high Ranking: No.4

Titles: 11

Grand Slam Titles: 1 (Australian Open 2024)

Masters 1000 Titles: 1 (Toronto 2023)

ATP Finals Best Result: Final (2023)

Head-to-Head: Carlos Alcaraz 3-4 Jannik Sinner

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Daniil Medvedev became the first man in the Open Era to lose two Grand Slam finals from two sets up last week, but Andy Roddick has defended the Russian and backed him to be a future ‘Hall of Famer’.

Medvedev had already played three five set matches prior to the Australian Open final, coming back from two-sets-to-love down against Emil Ruusuvuori and Alexander Zverev.

However, he was on the receiving end of a comeback defeat in the final, being defeated by Jannik Sinner to lose his second Australian Open final in this manor.

Despite this, Roddick has jumped to the defence of the former No.1, “I know we always celebrate the winner and people are gonna knock Medvedev for being up two sets [and he] let it go – that’s trash if you do that. Because that’s in no way representative of what he did this entire tournament and what frankly he’s done for five or six years.”

Roddick is so passionate in his argument about Medvedev that he backed the 27-year-old as a better player than himself, “One of the most underappreciated players ever. And I’ll throw myself under the bus on this one. Twitter the other day, there’s some conversation going and I get looped in and they’re going, someone said, ‘Medvedev’s the best player ever that has one Slam.’ And I was the answer of the counter.

“And I’ll just tell everyone right now, he’s better than I ever was. He has 20-something-odd titles. He’s won however many Masters Series events, one World Tour Finals, has been No.1 in the world, oh by the way – beat Novak Djokovic in a Grand Slam final.”

The American added, “[He] Has put himself there, I mean he’s been in back-to-back Grand Slam finals. This guy is better. If anyone calls him a ‘one Slam wonder’, they’re idiots and don’t know what they’re talking about.”

Medvedev’s 2024 Australian Open final defeat to Sinner was his fifth career Grand Slam final defeat, with his only victory coming at the 2021 US Open against Novak Djokovic.

Although Medvedev has a poor major final record, Roddick does not believe that any of these losses were his fault, “I’ve never left a final watching Medvedev and thought he’s blown it or given it away.”

Roddick continued, “He makes someone earn it every single time. He’s played Rafa [Nadal] twice, Novak twice and an in-form Sinner. It’s just the way it goes. I lost four finals and won one. Sometimes you just come up against someone better on the day.

“We’re acting like this one’s going to be the thing that breaks him, but he’s done it before and has come back extraordinarily. I’m not worried about him showing up and being at the business end of every hard court Slam over the next couple of years and, personally, I’d love to see him win another one. He has beaten all the best players on the biggest stages and is no doubt a Hall of Famer in his own right.”

I gave it everything but it wasn’t enough tonight. Congrats to @janniksin. Thank you Melbourne and look forward to seeing you next year???? pic.twitter.com/N0y3Xocfyw

— Daniil Medvedev (@DaniilMedwed) January 28, 2024

Medvedev will look to bounce back from his Australian Open disappointment in two weeks time at the ATP 500 event in Rotterdam, before heading to the Middle East for tournaments in Doha and Dubai.

Inside the baseline…

It probably is a fair comment from Andy Roddick to suggest that Daniil Medvedev is underappreciated, which is probably why the Russian seemed to go under the radar at the Australian Open until the latter stages. However, in some ways this might help the former No.1, as the pressure is often more focussed on his rivals rather than himself. It will be interesting to see how he handles this defeat, as the Australian Open final defeat to Rafael Nadal definitely impacted the remainder of Medvedev’s 2022 season.

READ NEXT: Novak Djokovic ‘limped out of’ the Australian Open claims former No.1

Daniil Medvedev career achievements 

With Roddick heaping praise on Medvedev after his Australian Open final defeat, we at Tennishead wanted to look back at some of his best career achievements:

Career-high Ranking: No.1 (16 weeks)

Current Ranking: No.3

Career titles: 20

Grand Slam titles: 1 (US Open 2021)

Grand Slam Finals: 5 (Australian Open 2021, 2022 & 2024, US Open 2019 & 2023)

Masters 1000 Titles: 6 (Cincinnati 2019, Shanghai 2019, Paris 2020, Toronto 2021, Miami 2023 & Rome 2023)

ATP Finals Best Result: Won (2020)

Davis Cup Best Result: Won (2021)

pic.twitter.com/pSNFPOnx6t

— Daniil Medvedev (@DaniilMedwed) September 16, 2021

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Novak Djokovic was beaten in the Australian Open semi-final for the first time in his career last week, and former No.1 Andy Roddick has admitted he is ‘a little concerned’ about the manor of the defeat.

Djokovic had reached 10 previous semi-finals at the Melbourne major, going onto win the title on all of those occasions, but eventual champion Jannik Sinner brought an end to that streak this year.

Sinner beat the Serbian, 6-1 6-2 6(6)-7 6-3, and Roddick has detailed Djokovic’s loss on his podcast with Jon Wertheim, “He kind of limped out of this tournament [Australian Open] a little bit, you know, through no fault of his own, the guy’s been better than anyone on Earth, and it’s gonna happen.

“But I’m a little concerned that one, he’s not getting younger when it turns, it turns quickly also, he has guys that can punch him in the mouth, you know, he has this new generation that once they know they can beat him, they’re not going to revert to the, you know, the mentality that there’s no way to beat him.”

Following Djokovic’s loss to Jannik Sinner at the Australian Open and his Wimbledon final defeat to Carlos Alcaraz, Werthiem asked Roddick about whether he thought this was the beginning of the world No.1 losing his stranglehold on the Grand Slam tournaments.

“Well, I think it’s going to be about the mental gymnastics and how those play out,” said Roddick. “Like I for 10 years haven’t been concerned about Novak playing Indian Wells or Miami or whichever hardcourt event he’s gonna play next.”

The 2003 US Open champion continued, “Like, it’s just not as important as the Slams and he’s been able to show up to the Slams and play well and get results. I’m very interested to see how he comes out of the gates in an Indian Wells or a Miami and kind of the pressure and the defeat on a massive level.”

It is currently unclear as to when Djokovic’s next tournament will be, as he potentially looks ahead to returning at the sunshine double of Indian Wells and Miami for the first time since 2019.

Inside the baseline…

It was a very uncharacteristic defeat from Novak Djokovic last week, as is any loss of his is, but it seemed that illness was bothering him from the very first round in Melbourne. That being said, Jannik Sinner thoroughly deserved the victory and backed it up in the final against Daniil Medvedev, as the Italian continues to close the gap on the top three ranked players. It would be very surprising if Djokovic never won a Grand Slam title again, and he will be extra hungry when Roland Garros comes around this year.

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Jannik Sinner is currently enjoying his first Grand Slam title victory at the Australian Open, but the Italian has admitted that the work ‘has just begun’.

Sinner reached the final in Melbourne by dropping only one set against world No.1 Novak Djokovic, but had to fight back from two-sets-to-love down against Daniil Medvedev in his first major final.

As a result he became the first Italian in history to win the Australian Open singles title, and was asked by his home media if the victory felt like he had imagined it would, “Yes and no. Yes, because there is a sensation that is difficult to put into words. And no because there are feelings that cannot be imagined before you actually feel them.

“When I won the last point, I laid on the court, looking up at the sky, I didn’t even think about the trophy, I thought ‘I played a great match today’ because I was in a lot of trouble and I managed to get out of it. In the end, this was the best thing about today.”

Despite all of Sinner’s success in recent months, the world No.4 is still thinking about areas he can improve his game, “Winning this trophy means a lot to me, it makes me think of all the work that went into it, but now that we are here talking, the situation has sort of calmed down, I know there’s still a lot of work to be done. I need to work in the gym, to get stronger physically.”

The 22-year-old continued, “I believe mentally I did a good job in this tournament, but there are still some improvements that can be done. Therefore the work is not done, on the contrary, it has just begun.

“I have to be ready for the opponents that will now start to know my game and know how to play against me. Today during the first two sets, honestly speaking, he [Medvedev] kicked my butt, so I have to get ready for that.”

Never, stop, fighting!

My first Grand Slam title, lost for words, forza!!!!!! ???? pic.twitter.com/y8R8eJ1VTh

— Jannik Sinner (@janniksin) January 28, 2024

Sinner has withdrawn from the tournament in Marseille next week, but is expected to return to action at the ATP 500 indoor hard court event in Rotterdam, beginning on Monday 12th February.

Inside the baseline…

For Jannik Sinner to be speaking about areas he can improve in his game, after the biggest victory of his career so far, just shows the maturity of the 22-year-old. Sinner had to come through three top five ranked players in a row to win the title in Melbourne, including the greatest men’s champion that the Australian Open has ever seen and a huge deficit in his first Grand Slam final against Daniil Medvedev. The improvements that Sinner has made over the past year have been staggering, so to hear him talking about making more is quite a scary thought.

READ NEXT – ATP Rankings (29/01/24): Oldest world No.1 in history crowned, as Tsitsipas drops to lowest ranking in five years

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The post Jannik Sinner claims his ‘work is not done’ despite maiden Grand Slam triumph appeared first on Tennishead.

The Australian Open has provided the ATP rankings with the biggest update so far this year, that includes a 43-year-old becoming world No.1 for the first time!

Jannik Sinner won his first Grand Slam singles title on Sunday, however the top five in the rankings have remained completely the same.

However, this cannot be said for doubles, with Rohan Bopanna becoming world No.1 for the first time at the age of 43 years and 331 days after winning the Australian Open doubles title with Matt Ebden.

Look what it means to @rohanbopanna and @mattebden ?

At 43, Bopanna has his FIRST Men's Doubles Grand Slam title – and becomes the oldest to do so in the Open Era ??#AusOpen pic.twitter.com/qs0JlrkMO7

— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 27, 2024

The Indian is the oldest person to reach the summit of the rankings in history, surpassing the previous record holder, Mike Bryan (41 years and 76 days).

Big Movers

Reverting back to singles, the biggest upward mover after the first Grand Slam of the year is Frenchman Arthur Cazaux.

Cazaux was fortunate enough to receive the French wildcard for the Australian Open and he certainly took advantage of that, becoming the first wildcard since Lleyton Hewitt (2012) to reach the fourth round of the tournament.

As a result, the 21-year-old has risen a massive 39 places to reach a career-high ranking of No.83.

Nuno Borges also made history in Melbourne, after becoming the first Portuguese man to reach the second week of the Australian Open.

This has paid dividend in terms of his ranking, with Borges following in the footsteps of Joao Sousa as the second player from Portugal to break inside the top 50.

Welcome to the Top 50, @nunoborges97! ?

?? Nuno Borges soars from #69 to #47 on the rankings today—his Top 50 debut—after becoming the first Portuguese player ever, man OR woman, to reach the round of 16 at the Australian Open. ?

He was only the second to do it at ANY major:

— TENNIS (@Tennis) January 29, 2024

Other significant upward movers include Miomir Kecmanovic (+19 to No.41), Fabian Marozsan (+10 to No.57), Tomas Machac (+9 to No.66), Luca Van Assche (+11 to No.68), Alex Michelsen (+18 to No.73), Flavio Cobolli (+24 to No.76), Aleksandar Kovacevic (+16 to No.85), Brandon Nakashima (+31 to No.96), Pedro Martinez (+10 to No.99) and Quentin Halys (+10 to No.100).

Although Stefanos Tsitsipas has only fallen three places, the Greek is now at his lowest ranking in five years (No.10) after failing to defend his runner-up points from the 2023 Australian Open.

One of the biggest downward movers is Roberto Bautista Agut (-29 to No.101), who has fallen outside the top 100 for the first time in 12 years after losing in the first round of the Melbourne major.

Some of the other big fallers are Jiri Lehecka (-8 to No.31), Sebastian Korda (-7 to No.33), Alexander Shevchenko (-11 to No.59), J.J Wolf (-20 to No.77), Marton Fucsovics (-12 to No.82), Yoshihito Nishioka (-23 to No.84), David Goffin (-22 to No.134) and Denis Shapovalov (-23 to No.137).

ATP Rankings Top 20 (29/01/24)

Here is the full breakdown of the top 20 players in the ATP rankings:

For a full list of the rankings, visit the official ATP website

Race to the ATP Finals in Turin (29/01/24)

The ATP Finals are a highly anticipated event that take place at the end of each year, featuring the top eight singles players and doubles teams from the tennis season.

Unsurprisingly, Sinner’s maiden Grand Slam triumph has put him at the front of the race to his home event in Turin:

1. Jannik Sinner – 2000 points

2. Daniil Medvedev – 1300 points

3. Alexander Zverev – 1135 points

4. Novak Djokovic – 860 points

5. Andrey Rublev – 650 points

6. Hubert Hurkacz – 550 points

7. Alex de Minaur – 465 points

8. Taylor Fritz – 445 points

—————————————————-

9. Carlos Alcaraz – 400 points

10. Alejandro Tabilo – 378 points

What dreams are made of pic.twitter.com/Fq2sEGP4TV

— Jannik Sinner (@janniksin) January 29, 2024

Next week

After a hectic two weeks of action in Melbourne, things are set to calm down with only one main tour event taking place in Montpellier.

Holger Rune is the top seed at the ATP 250 indoor hard court tournament, with former champions Richard Gasquet, Gael Monfils, Alexander Bublik and Lucas Pouille also featuring.

Andy Murray returns to action as the fifth seed in southern France, as he looks to bounce back from his disappointing opening round defeat at the Australian Open.

? TABLEAU OPEN SUD DE FRANCE 2024 ! pic.twitter.com/FyHBeNUNLe

— Open Sud de France (@OpenSuddeFrance) January 27, 2024

READ MORE – Tennis on TV next week: How to watch ATP Montpellier, WTA Linz and more!

ATP Rankings rules

ATP rankings track and rank all the players on tour over a 52-week period. Points are awarded for performance, with the biggest tournaments giving out the most points over the course of the year.

Those rankings are then used to determine a number of things, such as seedings at tournaments and deciding who qualifies for the season-ending ATP Finals in Turin.

ATP rankings points awarded/tournament

The following points are awarded for the different tiers of tournaments on the ATP Tour, with some slight alterations made for the 2024 season:

Admissible tournaments

To prevent players from manipulating the rankings by playing a large amount of smaller tournaments, only 19 tournaments are admissible over the course of the year to make up a ranking.

That number does not include the ATP Finals, with that treated as an extra earned opportunity to win rankings points. However, the bigger and most prestigious tournaments are considered ‘mandatory’ entries. For example, if a player lost in round one of a Grand Slam, they would not be permitted to omit it from their ranking in favour of an ATP 250 which earned them more points.

Therefore, players who compete at all the mandatory events in a season will have the following breakdown of admissible rankings points:

• 4 Grand Slams
• 8 Masters 1000
• 7 ‘Best Other’ performances

The rankings always cover the previous 52-week period, so any points won further back than that are deducted from a player’s total. That player will, though, have the chance to ‘defend’ their points by repeating or improving upon their previous performance.

An example would be a player who was a defeated finalist at the US Open in 2023 will have 1200 points deducted from their ranking following the 2024 final. Those points would then be replaced by those won at the 2024 tournament.

READ NEXT: Novak Djokovic still reigns in the rankings despite Jannik Sinner success

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The 2024 Australian Open felt like a bit of a watershed moment for men’s tennis, with Jannik Sinner firmly establishing himself as an elite player.

Rafael Nadal’s return never happened, and Novak Djokovic looked almost human too. It was refreshing to see in many ways. Well, depending on who you support at least.

The final didn’t disappoint at all either, with five brilliant sets of tennis being produced by two players who are helping lead the way in the new ATP order.

So, let’s enjoy six fun facts to emerge from a brilliant 2024 Australian Open final.

Marathon man Medvedev

Daniil Medvedev was on court for 24 hours in total at the Australian Open, itself a record and absolutely remarkable.

You may not realise how completely historic that is, though.

In fact, Medvedev is the first ever Grand Slam finalist in the Open Era to have endured four five-set matches at a single event. No wonder he lagged a little physically towards the end!

1 – With Jannik Sinner taking him to a fifth set in the AO final, Daniil Medvedev is the first Grand Slam finalist in the Open Era to have appeared in four five-setters at that Grand Slam event. Sheesh.#AusOpen | @AustralianOpen @DaniilMedwed @atptour pic.twitter.com/sHcyyjsR7m

— OptaAce (@OptaAce) January 28, 2024

A year of five-setters

While we are talking about five-set matches, though, it’s worth noting that the 2024 Australian Open equalled the all-time record.

The final was the 35th match to go the full distance in the men’s draw and no Grand Slam event has ever produced more.

It doesn’t set a new record, though. It merely ties the 1983 US Open.

35 – This year’s AO final between Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev is the 35th five-setter at the event, equalling the Open Era record for the most five-setters at a single Grand Slam event – US Open 1983. Marathons.#AusOpen | @AustralianOpen @TennisAustralia @atptour pic.twitter.com/vSJIkm23Kd

— OptaAce (@OptaAce) January 28, 2024

Jannik Sinner won it the hard way

Although Grand Slam titles are the hardest to win, you can still get relatively fortunate in the draw.

In the past we have seen players make it all the way to the final without ever having to play a top 10 player. It’s rare, but it happens.

That certainly wasn’t the case for Sinner, though. In Andrey Rublev, Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev, he had to beat three top five players in consecutive rounds to win the title.

In achieving it, he joined some very elite company. Indeed, only Roger Federer (2007 US Open) and Novak Djokovic (2012 Australian Open) have done it before.

3 – Since 1973, Jannik Sinner is only the 3rd player to claim successive ATP top 5 wins in the QF, SF and final at a GS on hard court, after Federer (US Open 2007) and Djokovic (Australian Open 2012). Unique. #AusOpen | @AustralianOpen @janniksin @atptour pic.twitter.com/KbjBL7skE9

— OptaAce (@OptaAce) January 28, 2024

Sinner not waiting around

Due to the dominance of the Big Three, tennis feels like it has been waiting a long time for some new stars but we are getting them now.

Carlos Alcaraz already has two Grand Slam titles and now Sinner has joined him in getting over that hurdle early in his career.

In fact, he is the third youngest men’s Australian Open ever at Melbourne Park. Only Djokovic (2008) and Jim Courier (1992) were younger when then got their names engraved on the trophy.

3 – Jannik Sinner is the 3rd youngest player to win the Men’s Singles title at the Australian Open since 1988 (when the tournament moved to Melbourne Park), older only than Novak Djokovic in 2008 and Jim Courrier in 1992. Quality. #AusOpen | @AustralianOpen @janniksin @atptour pic.twitter.com/FptS21ZnIg

— OptaAce (@OptaAce) January 28, 2024

Jannik Sinner showing his mettle

It wasn’t just that Sinner won the Australian Open that was so impressive, but how de did it as well.

The youngster was two sets down in the final against Medvedev and being dominated in just about every metric, and many expected the more experienced Russian to ease to victory from there.

Sinner was having none of that, though. He dug in, fought back and won the match. In doing so, he became only the second player under the age of 23 in the Open Era to win a Grand Slam final from two sets down.

The other: Bjorn Borg at Roland Garros in 1974.

22,165 – At 22 years and 165 days, Jannik Sinner is only the second U23 player in the Open Era to win a Grand Slam final from two sets down, after Bjorn Borg (Roland-Garros 1974). Epic. #AusOpen | @AustralianOpen @janniksin @atptour pic.twitter.com/2jflhxxPfw

— OptaAce (@OptaAce) January 28, 2024

Misery for Medvedev

While it was brilliant to see Jannik Sinner win a maiden major, you had to feel some sympathy for Daniil Medvedev too.

He put in an enormous shift on court to reach the final and produced two and a half sets of scintillating tennis in it.

Medvedev also had demons to exorcise from 2022 when he lost the Australian Open final from two sets up against Rafael Nadal.

Sadly, history repeated itself and Medvedev because the first man in history to lose multiple Grand Slam finals from two sets up.

1 – Daniil Medvedev is the first player in the Open Era to lose multiple Grand Slam finals from two sets up, after the 2022 Australian Open final. Painful. #AusOpen | @AustralianOpen @atptour pic.twitter.com/SSjdVz7DjW

— OptaAce (@OptaAce) January 28, 2024

Jannik Sinner consistency

Whenever someone wins a maiden major it’s sometimes quite tempted to dismiss it as a flash in the pan. In fairness, Dominic Thiem has proven relatively recently that it can still happen.

No one will be doing that with Sinner, though. Well, no one who has been paying attention at least.

Following his 2024 Australian Open efforts, he has now won 10 of his last 11 matches against opponents ranked in the top five in the world.

READ NEXT: Novak Djokovic still reigns in the rankings despite Jannik Sinner success

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Daniil Medvedev says no one should be hailing Jannik Sinner yet as being better than Novak Djokovic despite his recent successes.

Sinner won the Australian Open title, coming back from two sets down to beat Medvedev in the final. That came after the Italian beat Djokovic in the semi-final, ending his 33-match unbeaten streak at the tournament.

Djokovic also lost to Sinner at the Davis Cup and ATP Finals, although he did win the tournament after beating the 22-year-old in the final.

That is starting to look like Sinner can beat Djokovic consistently, but Medvedev has warned of the dangers of trying to make mountains out of moments in tennis.

“This tournament he was the best player in the world, and that’s why he won this Slam, but we never know what happens next,” Medvedev said when asked if Sinner was now the top dog in men’s tennis.

“Right now he’s No 1 in the race [to Turin]. He continues playing like this, continues winning tournaments like this, he’s going to be No 1 in the world at one moment.

“We never know what can happen. Many, many things can happen in the tennis career.

“That’s why I think tennis is a beautiful sport because you cannot look in the future. You don’t know.

“Again, if he stays healthy and plays like he played this tournament, one moment he’s going to be No 1. Two months, in one year, in two years, one moment.

“You know, many players went through different moments in their seasons and careers, so let’s see how Jannik handles everything that is going to happen.

“I myself put myself in a good position. I guess I would be No. 2 in the race. I’ll try my best to be somewhere there close by also.”

Can Jannik Sinner overtake Novak Djokovic as world number one?

That will surely be Sinner’s goal for 2024 and rightly so. He is playing incredible tennis and shouldn’t be fearing anyone at all.

Displacing Djokovic in the rankings is not easy, though. He has now spent 410 weeks sitting at top of men’s tennis, which is 100 more than even Roger Federer managed.

And, in truth, he is still some way off launching a genuine challenge.

Djokovic is 1,545 points ahead of Sinner, but Sinner has a lot of points to defend in the coming weeks while the Serbian does not. It is premature, then, to expect an immediate challenge.

That said, a good Sunshine Double in Miami and Indian Wells and Sinner will certainly set himself up to maybe target the top spot over clay season.

READ NEXT: Three remarkable Jannik Sinner stats following Australian Open Novak Djokovic win

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