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By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Saturday January 25, 2024

 
Jannik Sinner

Jannik Sinner rides a 20-match winning streak into his third career Grand Slam final, where Alexander Zverev hopes to play streak-snapper.

Photo Source: Getty

We are down to two on the men’s side at the 2025 Australian Open. Top-seeded Jannik Sinner will go for history on Saturday night in Melbourne, bidding to complete a successful title defense, while second-seeded Alexander Zverev will contest his third major final and bid for the elusive maiden major title.

Join us for a look inside Sunday’s final:

Jannik Sinner vs Alexander Zverev
Head-to-Head: Zverev leads 4-2

Key stat for Sinner:

Where to start? The Italian rides a 20-match winning streak into Sunday’s final, and he’s also won his last 20 hardcourt Grand Slam matches. At the Australian Open his winning streak is 13, and he is bidding to become the 11th man in history to successfully defend the men’s singles title in Melbourne.

Sinner has won 59 of his last 62 hardcourt matches, since the start of 2024.

If Sinner can win his third major title he’d join Jimmy Connors, Bjorn Borg, Stefan Edberg, Gustavo Kuerten, Roger Federer, Stan Wawrinka and Carlos Alcaraz as one of eight players in the Open Era to win each of his first three major finals.




Key stat for Zverev:

It has to be his head-to-head record against Sinner. The German has won four of six clashes with Sinner, and reeled off four in a row against him from 2020 to 2023. He’s also 2-0 against Sinner at the hardcourt majors, defeating him twice at the US Open, in 2021 and 2023.

On the flip side, Zverev has lost his only two major finals, and a loss on Sunday would put him in a group with Casper Ruud, Dominic Thiem, Andy Murray, Goran Ivanisevic and Andre Agassi – those are the five players that lost each of their first three major finals. It worked out okay for Agassi, Ivanisevic, Murray and Thiem, but Ruud is still searching for his maiden Grand Slam.

Which club will Sascha join?

The last time they met:

Sinner took out Zverev in Cincinnati last year, defeating the German in the semifinals, 7-6(9), 5-7, 7-6(4), which snapped a four-match losing streak to Zverev.

What Zverev is saying:

On practicing harder than ever over the last six months, even after matches, to get another chance at the majors:

“My goal is still to compete with the big guys and to compete for these kinds of tournaments and try to win them. For that, I need to get better. I need to improve on the court. I need to improve physically. That's why I kind of said to the end-of-the-year tournaments, yes, I'm going to play them, but I'm going to play them also to improve and to try to become a better tennis player.

“I was still practicing through all the tournaments. I was still doing quite a lot of physical training through the tournaments, as well, for these kinds of moments, for Grand Slams and hopefully to be able to lift these kinds of trophies.”

On the fact that Novak Djokovic has publicly said he wants Zverev to win the title:

That means a lot to me, especially from Novak, who I admire and respect so much. I'm looking forward to Sunday. I do feel like I have done the work, and I do feel like I'm ready for it. So we'll see how it goes.

I'm very thankful to Novak for wishing me that. Yeah, let's see what's going to happen on the weekend.




What Sinner is saying:

On the opportunity that is in front of him:

“Obviously it's a great position to be in. Back of my head I also know that I'm 23 years old, and I am not perfect, no? I know that I have things still to improve. I have certain areas where I can get better. That's why we work for, no?

“As I said before, every day is a big challenge. Every day you have a different opponent. You try to understand what's happening. Sometimes you have some issues and then try to understand whatever works best for that day, and trying to go for it, no? Everyone makes mistakes, Nobody's perfect.” When asked if he is unbeatable: “I know that I put a lot of work in. I know I just try to stay calm, never taking things as granted. Just well-prepared, to be honest. I had a tough off-season. We tried to put a lot of work in there. Every day it's a routine to get better. That's it.”

The Skinny

Matchups very rarely lie, and Alexander Zverev’s first six meetings with Jannik Sinner do tell a story. The German will no doubt take comfort in the fact that he won four of those meetings that he is relatively comfortable against the player that very few can manage, particularly on a hard court.

Does that mean we throw the head to head out the window? Zverev’s wins against the Italian came when the Italian was still in his coltish period. Sinner was still finding his legs on tour, working through the physical issues that featured as limitations to his game, and gaining experience as he tinkered and perfect his game.

These days the Italian is an absolute thoroughbred on a tennis court, and that is the one that the German will face on Sunday. We need to take the pair's previous six matches with a grain of salt and realize that Sinner, the defending champ and the reigning World No.1 of men's tennis, is the favorite in this match and he’s the more in-form player.

The onus will be on Zvevev to take chances and to execute his game to perfection. He knows what it is like to be a hard-luck loser in a major final, and he needs to let that feeling inspire him to be great on Sunday. To do that he’ll have to serve to perfection, power his backhand down the line, and play the big points like he never has.

And even if he does, it still may not be enough – Sinner is that good, he’s the World No.1 for a reason.

 

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