What does Sascha Zverev have to do to win a Grand Slam title?
For the third time in just over four years, he made his way through to the final Sunday and, for the third time, he came away with nothing.
This time it was Jannik Sinner who did for him 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-3 in Melbourne in two hours and 45 minutes. And Sascha really thought he had a chance this time. Or he did until 4-4 in the second set tiebreak. That was when a cruel net cord cost him a point and 12,000 in the Rod Laver Arena could see the belief drain away from the world No.2. Two serves later, Sinner was two sets to the good and dismantling the German bit by bit.
This was the same Sinner who in the fourth round had had what appeared to be a fit of the vapours against Holger Rune. Waking up feeling under the weather, he felt worse and worse in the oppressive heat and was shaking at the change of ends before calling the trainer. Then, in the semi-finals, he was cramping in his three set win over Ben Shelton and needed several doses of Pickle Juice to get him through (in straight sets, of course).
But against Zverev, all 6ft 6ins of him and the man who has worked himself into the ground over the past 18 months to try and get his hands on one the four biggest prizes in the sport, he was the supreme athlete in prime condition while his game purred along like a perfectly tuned Rolls Royce. He has only lost three hard court matches in the past 13 months (and only six matches in all) – and he has won all three hard court grand slams in that stretch.
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As Zverev explained in his speech on court: “You are the best player in the world by far. I was hoping that I could be more competitive today but you were just too good. I’m just not good enough. It’s as simple as that.”
When the championship point had been won, Sinner raised his arms and gazed at the heavens. He looked exhausted (naturally), relieved (obviously) and a little bit shellshocked. It was only a few minutes later, after he had hugged his team in the coaches’ “pod” at the back of the court and clamber emotional up to embrace the rest of his team in the stands, that he was able to smile and enjoy the moment.
Unlike his first victory last January – a five-set marathon against Daniil Medvedev – the feeling after this win was “pure joy”. He admitted feeling the pressure of defending a grand slam title for the first time, not that he let it show. Sinner was clinical, precise and save for feeling a bit below par in a couple of rounds, he was utterly dominant. He dropped two sets in seven rounds and, in the final, never faced a break point. He was now the first man to defend his maiden grand slam title since Rafa Nadal in 2005-2006 at Roland Garros (Roger Federer had done it at Wimbledon in 2003-2004).
Meanwhile, Zverev looked crushed. Sitting in his chair with his head in his hands, he could not stop the tears. As the Tennis Australia minions scurried around the court to set up the stage for the presentation ceremony, Sinner saw Zverev’s distress and went over to him.
Then, as they stood, waiting to be called for the ceremony (a couple of minutes that must seem like an eternity to the loser), he put his hands on Zverev’s shoulders and gave him a pep talk. It was, as Zverev said later, something along the lines of “keep working, keep believing in yourself and you will win one of these things”. Sinner said it again in his winner’s speech and seemed as concerned for Zverev’s wellbeing as he was excited about becoming the first Italian, man or woman, to win a third grand slam title.
But if Zverev was touched by this conqueror’s generosity of spirit, he was not fooled. He knew exactly what had happened and why.
“I’m serving better than him, but that’s it,” the world No.2 said, even if he did not serve better in the final. “He does everything else better than me. He moves better than me. He hits his forehand better than me. He hits his backhand better than me. He returns better than me. He volleys better than me.
“At the end of the day, tennis has five or six massive shots, like, massive factors, and he does four or five of them better than me. That’s the reason why he won.”
For Sinner, the world is his oyster; for Zverev, it is back to the drawing board. Since he recovered fully from the horrific ankle injury he sustained in Paris in 2022, he has done everything in his power to chase down Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz. This is the man who goes out for extra practice after he has played and won a final. He is not shy of hard work. But it is still not enough.
He will be 28 in April; Sinner won’t turn 24 until August. Zverev has tried to wring every last drop of success out of his talent; Sinner is still eager to improve – his efforts on grass and clay are not close to his hardcourt results but, even so, he has reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon and Roland Garros and it took Novak Djokovic and Alcaraz respectively to stop him once he got there.
Perhaps Zverev should have a word with Madison Keys. The American won her first grand slam title with a thumping 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 win over the defending champion, Aryna Sabalenka.
Her only previous major final was the US Open in 2017 when she was felled by nerves and stage fright and won only three games against Sloane Stephens. That shocker of a loss scarred her for years.
This time, she was determined to play her game no matter what and with her coach and husband, Bjorn Fratangelo, sitting on the court looking far more nervous than she did, she won.
“I finally got to the point where I was proud of myself and proud of my career, with or without a grand slam,” she said of her mental journey from 2017 to now. “I finally got to the point where I was OK if it didn’t happen. I didn’t need it to feel like I had a good career.
“I feel like finally letting go of that internal talk just gave me the ability to actually go out and play some really good tennis to actually win a grand slam.”
Zverev could do worse than following Maddy’s example.
