In the Australian Open final, Medvedev dominated before losing 6-3, 5-1 on the serve. After that, everything was Sinner.
Australian Open updates : Jannik Sinner appeared lost during the opening eighty-five minutes of the Australian Open final at the Rod Laver Arena. Indeed, there were initial nerves, and understandably so for someone participating in their first Grand Slam final. However, considering that he had defeated the reigning champion Novak Djokovic in the semifinals, the Italian, who was the clear favorite coming into the match, was never able to get comfortable. Daniil Medvedev, the master planner, had done his homework before facing a player who wasn’t Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic in a major final for the first time in his career. However, the world No. 3 was unable to build on his explosive start, and Melbourne eventually emerged as the No. 4 seed steadily got better during the match had Sinner, a 22-year-old, as its new monarch.
On Sunday night, Medvedev made two obvious adjustments to his strategy, maybe as a result of his three consecutive defeats versus Sinner in late 2023. His return position was the most important one. Medvedev stood closer to the baseline against Sinner’s first serve and nearly hugged the line against the second delivery, taking time away from the Italian and returning the serve with more intent than normal. Normally, he stands practically directly in front of the advertisement board. Rather than going to the backhand as was customary, the other was peppering Sinner’s forehand corner more frequently.
Against Sinner, Medvedev adopted an aggressive strategy as opposed to defending deep in the paint and absorbing pressure during protracted baseline exchanges. Five more rallies of 0–4 strokes than Sinner accounted for 15 of the 29 points the Russian gained in the opening set. In addition, he fired almost three times as many winners as Sinner (14-5).
How did Sinner change the narrative?
Medvedev dominated the game until his forehand return hit the net in the 6-3, 5-1, 15-15 set on serve. In the seventh game, Sinner converted a break point for the first time in the match. Even though Sinner survived and led two sets to love, the former US Open champion had already shown signs of being able to replicate what Nadal had done in Melbourne in 2022.
Medvedev lost the edge on his groundstroke, which was crucial in the first two sets, as he was hitting at a pace that was ten clicks quicker than he had throughout the tournament. He also started to hit with more depth and accuracy on his returns, which forced Medvedev back to his customary deep position.
Therefore, Sinner dominated from the baseline more in the last two sets (63 percent to 38 percent) than in the first two.
The length of the rally was another important component in Sinner’s comeback. With shorter rallies in which the 22-year-old struggled, Medvedev controlled the opening two sets, winning 44% of the points (22/50). In the third set, it increased to 61 per cent (20/33). But after spending more than 24 hours on the court during the tournament stretch, Medvedev was starting to tire, so Sinner started to play the extra point. The battle became a race to see who could miss first as the average rally length grew. Thirteen or more rallies accounted for twenty-one percent of the points scored in the opening three sets more pictures. In the previous two sets, it rose to 30%. With 66% of those points, Sinner prevailed.