John McEnroe shocked by what Alexander Zverev did in the Australian Open as he shares what he found really surprising about his performance

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Alexander Zverev has once again come up short in a Grand Slam, having lost the Australian Open final to Jannik Sinner.

Sinner has defended his Australian Open title in Melbourne, having beaten ATP number two Zverev in straight sets.

The Italian world number one needed just under three hours to overcome the German 6-3, 7-6(7-4), 6-3 at Rod Laver Arena.

Rafael Nadal has congratulated Sinner on his success, which represents a second Australian Open title and third career Grand Slam title.

Sinner has won all three of his Grand Slam finals to date, with world number two Zverev having lost all three of his.

John McEnroe labels Alexander Zverev ‘flat as a pancake’ in Australian Open final

Sinner overcame physical issues in the Melbourne heat in previous matches, but it was Zverev that former world number one John McEnroe believed was really struggling in their final clash.

“I was really surprised at that level that Zverev came up with towards the end of the second set and third set,” McEnroe said on Eurosport.

“I don’t know what happened to him. I know he is a diabetic and he injected himself twice, that sounds unusual to me, but he had no energy.

READ MORE: John McEnroe thinks Alexander Zverev made a big mistake against Novak Djokovic despite winning

“It looked like he was flat as a pancake. There was that net cord at 4-4 in the tie breaker that just took away his legs but he looked like the guy who got sick a couple of days ago and was cramping.

“Physically he looked weary. He had played one set in five days. I don’t know what happened. I think it was mentally [that he lost it]. But physically as well, which is semi-shocking to me.”

Jannik Sinner takes advantage of tie-break fortune in Australian Open final vs Alexander Zverev

It was an intriguing battle between two tall, big-hitting stars, with the top two seeds having gone head-to-head.

A back-and-forth tactical battle was on the cards, but Sinner quickly took the momentum and didn’t once look likely of losing the match.

READ MORE: Novak Djokovic reacts to John McEnroe’s criticism about him faking injury at the Australia Open

Zverev certainly piled the pressure on in the second set, and may just be extremely frustrated at failing to win their tiebreak, in which Sinner benefitted from a fortunate net cord at 4-4.

But there were other chances to get the better of the Italian which the German simply didn’t take, leading to yet more Grand Slam final heartache.

Zverev certainly didn’t fire himself up as much as he usually does, but perhaps credit must go to Sinner in that regard for constantly wearing his opponent down.