John McEnroe says whether he agrees with Alexander Zverev that Jannik Sinner is the best player in the world ‘by far’

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Jannik Sinner has continued his dominance on hard courts after beating Alexander Zverev to defend his Australian Open title.

Sinner broke a Roger Federer record by doing so, after beating Zverev in straight sets on Rod Laver Arena.

Both Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal have reacted to Sinner’s win, as he now becomes a three-time Grand Slam champion with his two Australian Open’s and single US Open victory.

While Zverev suffered another major final defeat, with the 27-year-old also losing in the US Open (2020 vs Dominic Thiem) and Roland Garros (2024 vs Alcaraz) finals.

John McEnroe says whether he thinks Jannik Sinner is ‘by far’ the best player in the world

Despite the disappointment of losing to Sinner, Zverev was full of compliments for the Italian in his post-match speech and claimed that he is ‘by far’ the best player in the world.

“Congrats to Jannik. You’re the best player in the world by far,” said Zverev. “I was hoping I could be more competitive today. You’re just too good. You really deserve it. Congrats to your team as well. There’s no one that deserves this trophy more.”

Earlier on in the tournament Sinner broke a John McEnroe record after his win over Holger Rune.

When McEnroe reacted to Zverev’s statement about Sinner on Eurosport, he suggested that he only agrees when it comes to hard courts.

“He was as good as he had to be. He is definitely by the far the best player on hard courts,” said McEnroe. “I am not sure you would throw him that quite yet on grass or clay. He is a little bit of a work in progress, he is still young.

“He is an awesome player. There’s no question about it. The way he gets in and out of the corners is unbelievable. He puts tons of pressure on opponents, that’s clear. And he did get in Zverev’s head, I’m not denying that.

“But I thought Zverev was going to make this a war of attrition and try and test Sinner who cramped two days ago and was sick four days ago. He wasn’t able to do that so you have to give Sinner a ton of credit.”

Sinner has won the past three hard court majors, and has reached the semi-final of both Roland Garros and Wimbledon.

How far ahead in the ATP rankings is Jannik Sinner?

Although Sinner has won the Australian Open, his lead at the top of the ATP rankings has actually reduced as he was defending 2000 points.

Zverev achieved his best result in Melbourne this year by reaching the final, and has subsequently gained 500 ranking points on the world number one.

Sinner still has a comfortable lead 3,695 point lead over Zverev in the rankings, and an even larger advantage over world number three Alcaraz.

Sinner is next expected to compete at the Rotterdam Open alongside Alcaraz, where he is also the defending champion.