Jannik Sinner has become a three-time Grand Slam champion after beating Alexander Zverev to win the Australian Open.
Sinner broke a Roger Federer record by doing so after winning his 14th consecutive match in Melbourne.
Following the conclusion of the Australian Open final, Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal messaged Sinner on social media.
While Sinner is continuing to impose his dominance on hard courts, Zverev has lost his third Grand Slam final.
After the match, Sinner gave advice to Zverev as he looks to make that breakthrough at upcoming major tournaments.
Alexander Zverev compares playing Jannik Sinner to Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal
When reflecting on the match in his post-match press conference, Zverev was asked to compare Sinner to Novak Djokovic and the recently retired Rafael Nadal.
Djokovic retired in his Australian Open semi-final against Zverev, but is a record 10-time champion in Melbourne.
Zverev responded to this question by suggesting that Djokovic and Sinner play very similarly.
“He’s very, very similar to Novak when he was at his best,” said Zverev. “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.
“It’s very, very difficult to win a point from the back of the court against them, against Novak and him. Move obviously tremendous. They’re constantly on the baseline. They don’t give you any space. They don’t give you any time. Yeah, I mean, just right now too good for me.
“Again, I’ll do everything I can to be able to compete with them and to lift the trophy, but today was nowhere near good enough.”
Alexander Zverev compares Jannik Sinner to the rest of the current ATP top 10
Zverev called Sinner the best player in the world by far in his post-match speech after the Australian Open final.
The German was asked to elaborate on this in his press conference, highlighting Sinner’s dominance on hard courts.
“Yeah, by far the best. I mean, the facts speak for themselves,” continued Zverev. “He’s won all the Grand Slams on hard courts since last year.
“He’s lost, I think, three matches on hard courts, right? Three, four, something like that. I’m not sure, but somewhere around that. I mean, I think the facts speak for themselves. He’s in a different universe right now to anyone else.”
The world number one has won 21 consecutive matches on hard courts, with Sinner’s last defeat coming against Alcaraz in the China Open final.
That loss was one of Sinner’s only three hard court losses in 2024, with two coming against Alcaraz and the other to Andrey Rublev in Montreal.
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