It is a dream of every tennis player to win a Grand Slam title but how does it feel when they achieve one of their career goals?
Jannik Sinner is the latest player to join the ranks of major champions following his epic win over Daniil Medvedev in the final of the Australian Open on Sunday. Trailing the match by two sets to love, he clawed his way back to prevail in five. Becoming only the second player in the Open Era to have won a final in Melbourne after losing the first two sets after Rafael Nadal. He has become the youngest men’s champion since Novak Djokovic in 2008 and the first Italian in history.
Speaking to Italian media in the early hours of Monday morning, the 22-year-old was in a reflective mood when asked if winning a Grand Slam title felt how he expected it to be.
“Yes and no,” Sinner replied after a brief pause to think.
“Yes, because there is a sensation that is difficult to put into words. And no because there are feelings that cannot be imagined before you actually feel them.
“When I won the last point, I laid on the court, looking up at the sky, I didn’t even think about the trophy, I thought ‘I played a great match today’ because I was in a lot of trouble and I managed to get out of it. In the end, this was the best thing about today.”
The world No.4 had to battle his way to claiming the biggest title of his career in Melbourne. From the quarter-final stage onwards, he beat three consecutive players ranked in the world’s top five. To put that into context, since 1973 Djokovic and Roger Federer are the only players to have done this at Grand Slam events on the men’s tour.
Despite his success, remarkably Sinner is already thinking about ways to improve his game further for the future. His main concern is his opponents getting too familiar with how he plays.
“Winning this trophy means a lot to me, it makes me think of all the work that went into it, but now that we are here talking, the situation has sort of calmed down, I know there’s still a lot of work to be done. I need to work in the gym, to get stronger physically.” He explains.
“I believe mentally I did a good job in this tournament, but there are still some improvements that can be done.’
“Therefore the work is not done, on the contrary, it has just begun. I have to be ready for the opponents that will now start to know my game and know how to play against me. Today during the first two sets, honestly speaking, he (Medvedev) kicked my butt, so I have to get ready for that.”
The mental side of the sport also played a pivotal role for Sinner who felt a combination of both excitement and nerves.
“In the beginning, there were a lot of nerves, my first Grand Slam final, was difficult to overcome. But I liked the feeling, I couldn’t wait to play this match, because you either win or you learn something. I did both, so it was good.” He concluded.
Sinner’s popularity has surged ever more in his native Italy. Eurosport has reported their best-ever tennis match viewership in the country with 2 million viewers (1,914,000) and a peak of over 2.6 million. Channel Nove also showed a replay of that match later in the day which generated an average of 576,000 viewers. Meanwhile, Eurosport.it totalled 1.6 million unique users to their website and 3 million video views, with 40 million video views on the channel’s social platforms.
