Australian Open takeaways: Sinner finally delivers, while Sabalenka defends

The first major of the tennis season has wrapped up Down Under.

A new champion has emerged from the northern region of Italy as Jannik Sinner broke through for a first major title, while Aryna Sabalenka showed her power and poise to defend her crown in Melbourne.

Here are five takeaways from the 2024 Australian Open:

Sinner has arrived

He’s the first Italian man to win a major in 48 years.

Jannik Sinner completed his stunning rise in the men’s game in Melbourne, producing an shocking comeback from two sets to love down to beat Daniil Medvedev 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 in the final.

It’s his first career grand slam title and one of the last boxes to tick for the young superstar.

Sinner was dominant throughout the two weeks Down Under, controlling play with his devastating baseline power and using his improved serve to great effect, only conceding two breaks through his first five matches, all straight-set wins.

The Italian brushed aside tough competitors like Olympic silver medallist Karen Khachanov, world no. 5 Andrey Rublev, upended a listless looking Novak Djokovic in the semifinals and then proved his mettle under pressure with an incredible rally in the championship, a match that featured high calibre play from both players:

Canadian tennis fans got to witness one of Sinner’s breakthrough moments last summer, as he captured his first Masters 1000 title at the National Bank Open in Toronto. Since then, he’s added titles in China, Vienna, led Team Italy to its first Davis Cup victory since 1976, and now has his name engraved on a major trophy.

The 22-year-old has been prolific the last five months, winning 10 of his last 11 matches against Top five competition. In his post-match press conference, he made it clear his intention for much more.

“I know that I have to work even harder,” said the Italian.

“Because the opponents, they will find the way to beat me and I have to be prepared. Let’s see what’s coming in the future.”

Sabalenka delivers title defence

The power, presence, camp, and energy belonged to Aryna Sabalenka this past fortnight in Melbourne.

The defending champion arrived as a woman on a mission Down Under, and simply dismantled the competition before her. The Belarusian played almost flawlessly across seven matches, winning the title without dropping a set.

After breezing through the first week unscathed, Sabalenka defeated former grand slam champions in succession, taking out 2021 French Open winner Barbora Krejčiková, and exacting revenge on last year’s U.S. Open champion Coco Gauff with a gritty 7-6, 6-4 victory.

By the time she reached the championship match, a major title almost felt like a formality. Sabalenka used her booming serve, disarming baseline game and vast experience to overwhelm Zheng Qinwen 6-3, 6-2 at Rod Laver Arena, a court she continues to thrive on.

She becomes the fifth woman to win the Australian Open without dropping a set and is the first player to defend her crown in Melbourne since fellow Belarusian Victoria Azarenka won back-to-back titles in 2012 and 2013.

No doubt, it was a two-week performance worthy of a celebratory trophy strut.

Novak is not infallible, Alcaraz slips

Yes, even the greatest athletes are entitled to an off day.

It was simply so jarring to see it though from Novak Djokovic, particularly in Australia, where he’s been a dominant force for over a decade and a half, amassing 10 major titles. While the 24-time grand slam champion did reach the semifinals in Melbourne, he stumbled badly, losing to Sinner 6-1, 6-2, 6-7, 6-3.

Despite a flash of quality tennis in the third set, the level from the Serbian was nowhere near what tennis fans are accustomed to seeing from the all-time great.

“I was shocked at my level,” Djokovic shared in defeat.

“This is one of the worst grand slam matches I’ve ever played.”

It was indeed a mistake-riddled performance, as Djokovic had 54 errors in the three-hour, 22-minute affair. It was his first defeat at the tournament since 2018. He does still hold the No. 1 ranking and is 600 points clear of Carlos Alcaraz.

The Spaniard also failed to live up to his lofty expectations at this event, as he was dispatched in the quarterfinals by Germany’s Alexander Zverev 6-1, 6-3, 6-7, 6-4. While Alcaraz had a largely uneventful first week with four confident wins in singles, he was completely out of sorts tactically against the big-serving German in the quarters.

Carlitos, even when losing, remains a human highlight reel, and produced a mesmerizing flurry of shots to fight back in the match and rally from the brink to win the third set. Despite these spectacular highs, Alcaraz had serious dips in form as well, struggling badly with consistency from the back of the court, and too often playing to Zverev’s far more dangerous backhand wing and getting rightly punished for doing so.

Since his Wimbledon title last season, Alcaraz is 22-9 with zero titles, a runner-up finish in Cincinnati, and a semifinals run at Flushing Meadows. These are terrific numbers for almost any pro, but do not meet the usual standards for the young phenom.

Alcaraz will hope to regroup and get back on track quickly with three majors ahead and nearly 10 months of tennis left in the calendar year. 

Zheng the next Chinese star

Just 10 years ago, Zheng Qinwen — eight years of age — moved from Chengdu, China to Wuhan, away from her parents, to train competitively as a tennis player.

While she was playing as a junior, former world No. 2 Li Na became the first Asian singles champion at the Australian Open, winning the title in 2014. It was Li’s second grand slam singles title, and later that summer she would proudly retire from the sport as the most successful Asian athlete in the sport’s history.  

For Zheng, Li has been the ultimate role model — she worked with the athlete’s former coach Carlos Rodriguez as a junior and showed promise quickly as she transitions to the tour. She won the WTA Newcomer of the Year in 2022, and last season won her first two titles, advanced to the quarterfinals of the US Open, and cracked the top 15 of the rankings.

In Melbourne, as top flight stars like Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina stumbled, Zheng capitalized on an open draw, and avoided facing a single seeded player en route to the championship match, playing offensive tennis in the opening week, and a composed and intelligent match in the semifinals against talented qualifier Dayana Yastremska.

Zheng has an all-court game with a heavy, powerful forehand wing, top level speed and athleticism, and an accurate serve that continues to improve. It’s now brought her inside the top 10 of the rankings for the first time — at 21-years-old, expect many more opportunities for deep runs at a major in the future.

Father time… defeated!

There were a pair of heartwarming stories in doubles this fortnight in Melboune. Doubles specialist Rohan Bopanna, now 43 years of age, was anointed world no. 1 midway through the tournament after several months of sustained success, including placing runner-up at the U.S. Open with partner Matthew Ebden, and finishing as finalists in Shanghai, Paris, and the ATP Finals.

Already setting a record as the world’s oldest No. 1 in tennis history, Bopanna managed another feat. He and Ebden defeated surprise Italian finalists Simon Bolelli and Andea Vavassori 7-6, 7-5 for his first career grand slam doubles title.

Meantime, on the women’s side, the enigmatic Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan, became the women’s second oldest doubles champion, winning the women’s title alongside Elise Mertens and the mixed doubles crown with Jan Zieliński.

Hsieh has one of the most unique and unusual game-styles in the sport, hitting a variety of slices, drop shots, lobs, and redirecting her opponent’s pace around the court. While her career in singles officially ended here in Melbourne in qualifying, she’s now up to seven career women’s doubles slams, and has her first ever win in the mixed category.

Not too bad at age 38.

Ottawa’s Gaby Dabrowski and partner Erin Routliffe, who is a Kiwi but grew up in Canada, had another solid event in doubles, reaching the semifinals of the tournament, and now sit fifth and sixth respectively in the rankings.