Breaking news update Jannick sinner declared winner of the men’s Australian Open final., after Daniil Medvedev refusal to appear for a dopin test
He was fortunate that Zverev had also played his share of epics over the last two weeks. He won’t be that fortunate in the final. While Medvedev will come into Sunday’s match with his body held together by a spaghetti string, Sinner will come roaring in with full confidence and seemingly in robust health. At 22, he just recorded the biggest win of his career, by ending Djokovic’s Melbourne Park win streak at 33. Now, two days later, he’ll try to win an even bigger match for the his first Grand Slam title.
“Obviously it means so much to me to beat Novak here in Melbourne,” Sinner says. “But in the other way, I know that the tournament is not over. Sunday is a final. It’s different emotions, because the final is always different.”One reason Sinner was able to close out Djokovic is that he had beaten him twice last fall. He said those wins “gave me confidence I could potentially do some good results in Grand Slams.” But those weren’t his only confidence-building victories of 2023. After going 0-6 against Medvedev, he beat him three times late last year, two times in finals. All three matches were close, and four of the sets went to tiebreakers. As he did against Djokovic, Sinner had the answers against his former nemesis.
“The three matches, all of them were tough,” Medvedev says. “Two tiebreaks and two three-setters. I had my chances.”
Medvedev said he wasn’t at his best for those contests—only “97, 96” percent—but he also admitted that Sinner had reached “a whole different level.”
“He did a little more serve-and-volley, maybe a little more aggressive,” Medvedev said of how Sinner broke his losing streak against him. “But at the same time that’s what he’s doing against everyone. He’s just playing better.”Can Daniil Medvedev find a way to survive Jannik Sinner, the ATP’s hottest player?
“Physical advantage, I probably don’t have,” said the Russian after another marathon win in the semis. “Tennis advantage, let’s see.”Daniil Medvedev vs. Jannik Sinner
One of these guy’s paths to the final was not like the other.
Sinner has played 19 sets in six matches. He’s dropped one, in a tiebreaker, to Novak Djokovic. Medvedev has played 25 sets in his six matches, three of which have gone to a fifth.
“Physical advantage, I probably don’t have,” Medvedev says. “Tennis advantage, let’s see.”
Medvedev sounded weary when he said those words, after his marathon, and unlikely, semifinal win over Alexander Zverev. He admitted he was tired by the fourth set, just as he had been tired in the fourth set of his quarterfinal win over Hubert Hurkacz. “Destroyed,” actually, is the word Medvedev used to describe his physical state. Yet this cagey competitor found a way to win both times.
