Jannik Sinner beat Ben Shelton in straight sets to advance to his second consecutive Australian Open final.
Just one year after Sinner beat Daniil Medvedev to pick up his first Major title in Melbourne, the Italian is back in the big match.
The 23-year-old stormed past Shelton in the semi-finals, winning 7-6, 6-2, 6-2, to book his place in Sunday’s showpiece event, where he’ll face off against Germany’s Alexander Zverev.
Zverev beat an injured Novak Djokovic in his semi-final, as he qualified for his third-career Major final, having lost in five sets at the US Open in 2020, and Roland Garros last year.
Injuries were a common theme in the semis, as Sinner began to struggle during the latter stages of his win over Shelton on Rod Laver Arena.
He overcame those issues to win, but an ATP legend has now said what Sinner’s coach told him about the Italian’s fitness after the match.
Darren Cahill told Jim Courier to keep post-match interview with Jannik Sinner short as he was ‘cramping’
Speaking to Eurosport, former world number one Jim Courier revealed what Sinner’s coach Darren Cahill told him after the match.
“When I went on to the court I walked by his team and was saying congratulations to them and Darren Cahill was like ‘Mate, keep the end interview short, he is cramping’,” he said.
“I said ‘I know, I saw him drinking the pickle juice’.”
Courier then asked the world number one whether he wanted to keep the interview short, but the Italian didn’t seem to mind answering questions.
“So I went over to him and said ‘do you want to keep this short?” said Courier.
“Jannik [Sinner] is like ‘No, I will talk about whatever, do whatever you want’.
“So we had a little chat and I did ask him what he was dealing with and he said he was cramping.
“I don’t think it’s an injury issue, which is good news.”
Courier went on to remind fans that this isn’t the first time that Sinner has dealt with cramp during a Slam semi-final.
“We saw him cramp up in the semi-finals of Roland Garros last year,” he said.
“It started in his forearm and then he had some problem with his legs.
“He got a massage [here], some hydration, and then got some pickle juice.”
Sinner lost to Alcaraz in the semi-finals of the 2024 French Open, having led by two sets to one.
Jim Courier has a theory on when Jannik Sinner’s Australian Open fitness issues began
Courier went on to explain where he thinks Sinner’s fitness issues began at this year’s tournament.
“What I would suggest is that this is related to how he is feeling in his match with Holger Rune,” he said.
“He wasn’t well in his match with Rune.
“He admitted he was dizzy and was taken off court by the doctor.
“That’s a match he could easily of lost in extreme heat.
“Tonight it was cool, so I think if he was having problems tonight it was probably related to that and he’s still not back to full fitness.”
Sinner beat Rune in four sets in their last 16 contest, but took an 11-minute timeout during the match, as he struggled throughout.
Cramp is often associated with fatigue, something that you perhaps wouldn’t expect Sinner to be struggling with, considering his relatively smooth run to the Australian Open final.
The Italian star has dropped just two sets all tournament, with his contest against Rune arguably his most taxing.
| Round | Opponent | Score | Sets played | Games played |
| SF | Ben Shelton [21] | 7-6, 6-2, 6-2 | 3 | 29 |
| QF | Alex de Minaur [8] | 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 | 3 | 24 |
| 4R | Holger Rune [13] | 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 | 4 | 35 |
| 3R | Marcos Giron | 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 | 3 | 27 |
| 2R | Tristan Schoolkate [WC] | 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-3 | 4 | 36 |
| 1R | Nicolas Jarry | 7-6, 7-6, 6-1 | 3 | 33 |
| Total | – | – | 20 | 184 |
Having been taken to a fourth set just twice all tournament, Sinner will likely expect to be back fit for the final against Zverev.
The German, on the other hand, had an even simpler path to the final, even if Djokovic’s retirement has somewhat skewed his numbers.
- Alexander Zverev played 18 sets on the way to the Australian Open final
- Alexander Zverev played 169 games on the way to the Australian Open final
While it’s clear to see that Zverev will technically be the ‘fresher’ of the two on Sunday, as athletes at the top of their game, you wouldn’t expect fitness to play too big a role in the outcome of the match.
Sinner will take on Zverev as he looks to defend his Australian Open title, on Sunday, January 26.
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