It is the moment that enabled Jannik Sinner to become a grand slam champion in a historic Australian Open final that ended in despair for the gallant yet unfortunate Daniil Medvedev.
Fighting desperately to keep alive his hopes of becoming the first Italian to win the Australian Open, Sinner’s ambition hung on a thread as he faced break point at 3-all in the fourth set.
He produced the response of a champion. Bang. An ace struck down the middle of the court at 203 km/h that swerved away from his lunging rival saved Sinner from a moment of peril.
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And the next two points stamped his clear authority in a famous final he claimed 3-6 3-6 6-4 6-4 6-3 in 3hr 44min. The forehand he fired on the next point was fashioned with ferocity.
And he clinched the pivotal game in the match with another thunderstruck serve, this one flattened out wide to the backhand at 201 km/h. Statement made. With belief and intent.
A superb set later to complete a pulsating final, and also an enthralling Open, and the 22-year-old became the youngest champion in Melbourne since Novak Djokovic in 2008.
The latter has become a legend of the sport. It is hard not to imagine Sinner will not win many more titles in the future given proof he has the fortitude to match his other powers.
Sinner had weathered a tactical masterclass from Medvedev which forced him firmly on the back foot and rebounded to take down a rival with an iron will and superb skills and nous.
That an epic would unfold on Rod Laver Arena to close an extraordinary 2024 Australian Open is not surprising given the number of marathon matches across the fortnight.
On a day where it was confirmed that the Australian Open had drawn more than one million fans, the 35th five set match of the event equalled the record set at the US Open in 1983.
And Medvedev featured in four of them. Any wonder he was kneeling on his haunches after the 39-shot rally at the start of the fifth set as he vied with all his might to recover his legs.
He was in record-breaking territory. No man prior had played 31 sets in a major in the Open era. And he was the first man since Bjorn Borg in New York in 1980 to go the distance in the quarter-finals, semi-finals and the decider.
But there was a record he was desperate to avoid after the heartbreak he endured when falling to Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open final in 2022 having led by two sets.
In surrendering the advantage to Sinner, the 27-year-old became the first man in history to lose two grand slam finals after taking the opening couple of sets. It is difficult to stomach.
But this was very far from a choke. Medvedev was mighty in the infancy of the match but ultimately his rival adjusted to the rhythm and raised his game to a remarkable level.
At no stage did Medvedev wilt or lose his mind or falter for form. Even as the withering forehand from Sinner that closed the final skidded by him, the Russian was giving his all.
It is clearly the start for Sinner, whose superb all-court game should see him as a leading contender at all four grand slams for many years to come.
“We are trying to get better every day. Even during the tournament, we were trying to get stronger,” Sinner said while crediting his team including Darren Cahill for their support.
Has the next generation finally arrived? Carlos Alcaraz stunned Djokovic at Wimbledon. Sinner rolled the 24-time major champion here on the way to winning the championship.
There is every bet the Serbian great will be finetuning his focus and aiming for revenge at Wimbledon ahead of his final tilt to win the Olympic singles gold medal he dearly wants.
Barring any significant setback, Rafael Nadal will also be back at Roland Garros. And Medvedev will continue to feature at the pointy end of hardcourt majors as well. Don’t write the older champions off just yet.
But it is equally evident that Sinner and Alcaraz, along with a few other impressive young men, will only get stronger and better. They are that good. And that is a bonus for the sport.
As Medvedev noted afterwards, he is certain this triumph will not be Sinner’s last major title.
Medvedev should be proud. No man had spent more time on court entering a major final.
“Unfortunately I could not make it tonight. I am going to try to make it next time,” he said.
“It has been, honestly, an amazing two weeks. It always hurts to lose in the final, but probably being in the final is better than losing before.
“I always want to win but I guess I have to try harder next time. I am proud of myself, but I will try harder.”
The 2021 US Open champion should also be applauded for a change of tactics that put him within reach of a second major until the Sinner surge began.
Early on Saturday morning at Melbourne Park, Medvedev’s coach Gilles Cevara acknowledged the brilliance with which Sinner had played the Australian Open.
But the French coach finished a chat with the press with a tantalising pointer, stating “I have a little idea” as to how the Russian could turn around three recent losses to the Italian.
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Medvedev had said entering the final that he had no idea how his rival would handle the pressure that comes with playing in a grand slam decider for the first time.
But with the experience of five grand slam finals behind him, the 27-year-old was prepared to “fight for my life” in the hope he would prevail for the first time in Melbourne.
He did that. And he nearly delivered. As Sinner said, “your effort has been awesome”.
Outstanding on return, phenomenal from the baseline and more than handy at the net, the Russian took the ball out of Sinner’s strike zone and deprived the young rival of time.
The No.3 stood closer than usual to the baseline to return. Assertiveness replaced his usual patience from the baseline. He regularly charged the net. The shorter the rally, the better.
Sinner had been sensational throughout the Australian Open, including his dismantling of Djokovic, but from the opening point he was sent scrambling by his superb rival.
Leading into the final, the 22-year-old had dropped serve just twice for the tournament.
By midway through the second set Medvedev, who appeared to have a clear strategy of stretching Sinner wide to the forehand on return, had managed the feat three times.
From looking at ease while warming up with Australian icon Lleyton Hewitt a couple of hours earlier, the sensation was besieged by his more experienced rival.
The Russian was aggressive from the opening point, where he fired a flat off-backhand return that had the first-time major finalist scrambling without success to his right.
When not thumping flat groundstrokes, he was zipping forward to the net. If an ace did not finish the point, his forehand fired into action.
A statistical analysis illustrated Medvedev’s aggressive approach. Midway through the first set, the world No.3 was clipping his forehand at 128 km/h and backhand at 120 km/h.
This was about 10 km/h per hour quicker than his average through the tournament to date.
Was it a deliberate tactic to combat potential fatigue given the extra six hours he had spent on court compared to Sinner to reach the final? Or a desire to strike first and dictate terms?
Sinner scarcely helped himself. His first serve percentage in the opening set was below 50 per cent, which allowed the Russian the opportunity to deploy his first strike tennis.
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The flatness of Medvedev’s backhand was also a factor.
On Eurosport, it was reported that Sinner’s contact point with the ball was 13 cm lower than it had been throughout the fortnight.
Effectively, the lower strike zone from the skidding shot made it harder for Sinner to swing as freely as he had been during his dazzling run to set up the biggest match of his career.
Even though Sinner dropped the second set 6-3, there were encouraging signs.
He fought mightily to hold an early service game and at the death he managed to break Medvedev for the first time in the match.
Only once before had Sinner prevailed from two sets down, that against Marton Fucsovics, and this time he was up against a major champion and star of hardcourts.
But from the infancy of the third set, it was clear Sinner was adjusting and finding his range.
He was landing his backhand down the line more regularly, which was damaging Medvedev.
There were more frequent looks at the Medvedev serve. And when he broke to claim the third set, there was a feeling a new champion might just be on his way to greatness.
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