Australian Open 2025 Review (Men’s): Super Sinner Defends Title

Written by: Faizan Chaudhrey | January 28, 2025
sinner winner ao 2025

The first grand slam of the year has concluded and what a tournament it was. Yes; Jannik Sinner defending his title was not a big surprise. However, we were treated to some blockbuster matches and left to ponder on a number of things in the aftermath of the tournament. I break down below some of the big talking points to come out of the tournament and analyse the action in Melbourne extensively. 

Sinner cements #1 status with clinical title defence 

Jannik Sinner proved once again why he is the best player on the planet; the Italian raced through a favourable draw before dismantling Alexander Zverev 6-3, 7-6, 6-3 in clinical fashion in the final. He played an extremely consistent level of tennis during the final and took the match by the scruff of the neck in the big moments; this was also prevalent in the tournament as a whole. We are now accustomed to seeing Jannik surgically approach his matches; giving his opponents little to work with as he breaks them down with precision. It was abundantly clear in this tournament that his shot selection ability on hard court is superior to the rest of the tour and he has the skillset to execute different gameplans. The addition of the forehand drop shot and improved net game have given Jannik different avenues to win matches; making him even harder to beat.

He is seemingly the best returner currently on hard court; topping the 1st serve and 2nd serve return point stats for the 2025 Australian Open. Jannik has always been a superb returner but the ability to adjust his return position effectively in this tournament made him stand out from the rest of the field; this was on full show in his championship winning match. Jannik has now won the last 3 hard court grand slams and with question marks over some of his closest rivals; he may yet extend this dominance. 

Let’s take a look at some staggering stats for the World #1. He lost a miserly 2 sets in this year’s edition of the Australian Open (to Holger Rune and Tristan Schoolkate respectively). These are the only sets he has lost in his last 20 matches; if we exclude the Six King’s Slam exhibition. His win over Zverev also marked his 10th straight win vs a Top-10 Opponent. If these stats were not mind boggling enough, the Italian joined Rafael Nadal (US Open 2017) and Roger Federer (Wimbledon 2003) as the only male players this century to not face a single break point in a Grand Slam Final. This is in keeping with Jannik’s incredible mental ability under pressure. He tops the ATP “Under Pressure Rating” leaderboard over the last 52 weeks; converting 42% of break points, saving 72.5% of break points and winning 79.4% of Tie Breakers. He also became the youngest man to win back-to-back Australian Open titles since Jim Courier (1992,1993). 

Where does Zverev go from here? 

The Curious Case of Alexander Zverev. Zverev said after his straight set loss to Sinner that he did not want to become “the best player to never win a grand slam”; 3 grand slam finals and 3 losses has added further mental scarring to the 27-year-old. The loss seemed all too much for Sascha as he cut a dejected further in the aftermath of the defeat; shedding tears before the ceremony whilst being consoled by champion Sinner. The German said in his post-match speech that he is currently “not good enough” and cited this as the reason for the loss. His speech was a humble one but there were some signs that he; at least initially had some serious doubts if he would ever win a grand slam.

Zverev has done well to recover from a serious ankle injury at Roland Garros 2022; making 2 grand slam finals and securing the #2 spot in the rankings. However, as time passes, winning a grand slam will get tougher and tougher from a mental stand point. Time is not on his side at 27 and the “next next gen” are also starting to make waves. My view is that this final will also hurt even more than the other two given the nature of the loss. Against Dominic Thiem he was 2 sets to 0 up and lost in a tight 5 setter in the 2020 US Open final; a similar fate befell him last year as he squandered a 2 sets to 1 lead vs Carlos Alcaraz in the 2024 Roland Garros final. These losses were heartbreaking for Zverev but he put himself in winning positions in both; to then albeit break down mentally and lose both finals.  

This 2025 Australian Open final was different in nature. Zverev was comprehensively outplayed by Jannik; he was not able to take a set or put himself in a winning position. Sinner’s domination was highlighted by the fact that Zverev was not able to open up a single break point; Sascha is among some of the best returners on tour. Jannik played a very solid level of tennis in the final but this was not the only factor for this straight set loss. Zverev managed to stick with Jannik for most of the first 2 sets; with just a single break and tie breaker deciding them. The biggest difference between Zverev and Sinner were the big moments; the pressure points. Jannik was brave in those moments and tried to play them proactively and win them; whereas Sascha played them more cautiously and played the points passively trying not to lose them.

This has been a consistent issue throughout his career; whether it be not hitting through the forehand, going cross court almost exclusively or not pulling the trigger first in exchanges down the middle of the court. In fairness to Sascha there were some big points where he did try to play more aggressively but his forehand broke down in quite a few of these instances. He hit 24 forehand unforced errors out of his large total of 42. Zverev in my opinion needs to work on playing a more proactive brand of tennis on a consistent basis so his forehand especially holds up in the biggest pressure cooker situations; if he can do this in addition to sorting out his mental game, he will give himself the best possible chance to win that elusive grand slam

Djokovic’s last Australian Open? 

Novak Djokovic’s campaign came to an unfortunate and abrupt end as he had to retire from his semi-final against Alexander Zverev after losing the first set in a tiebreaker. The 24-time grand slam champion and 10-time Australian Open winner had suffered a hamstring injury during his win vs Carlos Alcaraz in their quarter final encounter and the injury reared its ugly head once again vs Zverev. The Serbian has formed a much talked about coaching partnership with former rival Andy Murray and this change seemed to be working well for Novak. His level was better than we had seen in all of 2024 bar the Olympics and he pulled off a tactical masterclass with Andy to beat young super star Carlos Alcaraz in 4 sets. It is unfortunate he could not play injury free vs Sascha but the Serbian said post-match that the pain became too much for him to play with and who are we to question a player who has given 20 years to the sport?

Djokovic mentioned in the post-match press conference that he may not be at the 2026 Australian Open. It seems 2025 could be his last year on tour depending on how competitive/successful he is in 2025. His serve and forehand have got bigger over the last couple of years as he has looked to shorten a higher % of points as he gets older; in addition to developing a polished net game. However, with the knee injury last year and now the hamstring tear in this tournament; it could be that age is catching up to his nearly 38-year-old body.  

Despite being widely regarded as the greatest player of all time (he tops almost all the major metrics); Novak has always struggled to be as warmly received as great rivals Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. The Serb has a different personality to the other 2 greats; on top of having a contrasting background. Throughout his career he has had many a battle with a crowd and this tournament was no different. Djokovic bit back against a section of the crowd in one of his early matches and was then booed when he retired vs Zverev. The Serb looked clearly bemused with the reaction from a large portion of the crowd. Zverev in his post-match speech told the crowd to not boo and respect Novak for it to then die down somewhat. 

Djokovic now has a decision to make with new coach Andy Murray; the partnership was a trial at the Australian Open with the potential to carry on beyond that but no decision has been made as of yet. Given the chemistry that seemed to be on show, I would be surprised if Murray does not continue to coach him.  

A step backwards for Alcaraz? 

Carlos Alcaraz came into the tournament as one of the favourites behind Jannik Sinner; he also went in to the quarter final vs Novak Djokovic as a favourite by many tennis pundits despite Novak’s history in Melbourne. The Spaniard historically has struggled at the Australian Open and this tournament was no different; he matched his previous best result of the quarter finals from last year where he lost to Alexander Zverev. This year he was tactically outmanoeuvred by Djokovic and his new coach Murray. He also failed to capitalise on the Serb’s injury and became afraid of making mistakes after winning the 1st set; this ultimately cost him as he lost in 4 sets. The Spaniard struggles with the fast hard courts in Melbourne and will have to wait at least a year to attempt to become the youngest player in history to win the “career slam”.  

A section of the tennis world see this result as a slump in form for Alcaraz; however, the #3 in the world played some electric tennis up until the quarter final stage and people forget he split the 4 grand slams with fellow young superstar Jannik Sinner last year. Oh, and he is only 21! 

Other Notable Storylines 

Fonseca, Tien and Michelsen all beat Top-15 players (Rublev, Medvedev and Tsitsipas) in this edition; marking the breakthrough of the next next Gen. All 3 players participated in the Next Gen finals tournament at the back end of 2024. 

Gael Monfils rolled back the years as he made the 4th round where he unfortunately had to retire vs Ben Shelton after being 2 sets to 1 down. Monfils had beaten Perricard and Fritz in his entertaining run. 

Nick Kyrgios made his long-awaited return to action in his home grand slam; the Australian faced in form Jacob Fearnley in the 1st round. It was not the fairytale comeback he wanted as he was beaten by an abdominal strain and his tenacious British opponent in straight sets. 

Best matches of the tournament 

These were my top 5 matches and have been picked by myself and are purely my opinion! 

  1. Tien df. Medvedev (6-3, 7-6, 6-7, 1-6, 7-6) 
  1. Monfils df. Mpetshi Perricard (7-6, 6-3, 6-7, 6-7, 6-4) 
  1. Draper df. Vukic (6-4, 2-6, 5-7, 7-6, 7-6) 
  1. Machac df. Opelka (3-6, 7-6, 6-7, 7-6, 6-4) 
  1. Fonseca df. Rublev (7-6, 6-3, 7-6) 

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Faizan Chaudhrey

Faizan is a tennis fan that writes on Tennisnerd about players, tournament previews and other analysis topics of the ATP and WTA tour.