Jannik Sinner came into the Australian Open as the No. 1 ranked player in the world, seeking to defend his title. While world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka was unable to defend her title, losing to Madison Keys in the final, Sinner was able to get the job done, defeating No. 2 Alexander Zverev in the final 6-3, 7-6, 6-3. By defending his Australian Open crown, the 23 year old Sinner now has won three grand slam titles and has an iron grip on the world No. 1 ranking.
During his two weeks Down Under, Sinner only dropped two sets. Sinner dropped the opening set against wild card Tristan Schoolkate in the 2nd round before eventually winning 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-3 and then he dropped the second set against No. 13 Holger Rune in the 4th round, winning that match 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. The rest were all straight set victories, which is pretty dominating.
What Sinner did a great job of was winning his service points. He won 81% of his first serve points, which ranked 7th in the tournament and 4th among players who played in 4+ matches. As for his second serve, he won 62% of those points, which ranked 7th in the tournament and first among players who played in 3+ matches. The interesting thing about that is Sinner wasn't getting a lot of aces. He ranked 10th in the tournament in total aces with 59, but when you consider he played in seven matches, his aces per match (8.42) was relatively low compared to other guys in the tournament. But he made up for it with great ball placement and putting returners on their back heels even if they were able to get a racket on the ball.
The other thing Sinner did a great job of was winning tiebreakers. He was 4-0 in tiebreakers during the tournament, which speaks to his mental toughness and resolve. And then just in general, while he did drop a couple of sets, Sinner was never really pushed in this tournament. From start to finish, he was the top player in the field and to his credit he finished the job.
Looking ahead to the rest of the season, it'll be interesting to see how Sinner does. He's figured out how to win grand slams on the hard court and now needs to figure out how to win on the grass at Wimbledon and the clay at Roland Garros. Perhaps this will be the year he breaks through on at least one of those surfaces.
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