Jannik Sinner’s “safe place”, as his Australian super coach Darren Cahill puts it, has been a little less so this past fortnight in Melbourne.
The tennis court is the Italian superstar’s sanctuary from everything happening away from it, namely him twice testing positive last March to low levels of banned steroid clostebol.
Jannik Sinner has plenty on his mind ahead of Sunday night’s final.Credit: Eddie Jim
The sport’s integrity unit may have cleared him of any wrongdoing five months ago, but Sinner’s saga is not over.
The World Anti-Doping Agency appealed that decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which has scheduled a closed-doors hearing on April 16-17.
Despite all this, Sinner has won an extraordinary 79 of his 85 matches since arriving in Melbourne at the start of last year, including on Friday night when he reached a second straight Australian Open final.
The 23-year-old continues to present a brave face publicly despite the cloud over his future, but has offered the odd insight into how difficult the situation has been to handle.
“There are a lot of things going on, on and off the court. I try to isolate myself a little bit, trying to be myself on the court,” Sinner said after making the final.
“There are days where it’s easier, [but also] days where I struggle a little bit more.
“I’m just happy to put myself in this position again, to play for a big trophy again. But in other ways, everything can happen Sunday. I’m just happy to be here.”
As Sinner mentioned, his challenges have spilt onto the court at Melbourne Park.
He is saddled with the extra expectation and pressure of defending a grand slam title for the first time, while he fell ill ahead of his fourth-round clash with Holger Rune and endured mid-match dizzy spells and trembling hands.
There was also the shock of Sinner dropping the first set to 173rd-ranked Australian wildcard Tristan Schoolkate in the second round.
Then in Friday night’s semi-finals, the world No.1 began cramping in the third set with victory in sight against big-striking American Ben Shelton.
Put simply, this latest run to the Australian Open final, where he will take on Germany’s No.2 seed Alex Zverev, was nothing like last year’s largely smooth ride.
Sinner’s Italian coach, Simone Vagnozzi, acknowledged that fact.
“I think it was not easy, these two weeks for him. He had a really tough day with Rune. Also, today [against Shelton] was a really tough moment, tough match,” Vagnozzi said.
“I think he handled it really, really good. He was fighting for every point, every game. This is why he’s in the final again here.”
Cahill, who has also coached fellow grand slam champions Andre Agassi, Lleyton Hewitt and Simona Halep, calls Sinner “an incredible young man”.
“It’s not easy to come back and defend a major for the first time in your career. He’s had some stuff to deal with,” Cahill said.
“We couldn’t be prouder of the way that he’s conducted himself, both on and off the court; the fight he’s shown, the resilience. I know he’s just 23 years of age, but sometimes it feels like he’s much older and wiser than what we are.”
Sinner stormed back from two sets down to defeat Daniil Medvedev in last year’s final, consigning the Russian to a third runner-up finish.
He must defy a 2-4 head-to-head record against Zverev to join the likes of Djokovic, Roger Federer, Agassi, Jim Courier, Ivan Lendl, Stefan Edberg and Mats Wilander as a back-to-back champion in the Australian Open men’s singles.
“I’ve been in this position to play finals of grand slams, which is something good. Also, Sascha [Zverev] has been in that situation,” Sinner said.
“Finals are a bit different, but very exciting days. Sundays, when you arrive, doesn’t really matter how big the tournament is … there’s a nice feeling. There are only two men standing.
Alexander Zverev will meet Jannik Sinner in the final.Credit: Getty Images
“I’m trying to take the things away in your head, the pressure. Even if it’s easy to say, but difficult to do.”
A different type of burden weighs on Zverev, who will contest his third major final searching for a maiden title.
He spent last year’s Open fielding questions about domestic violence allegations and his own impending court case, but has not had to deal with that this time around.
That said, Zverev’s unsuccessful pursuit to date of grand slam glory has frustrated him deeply.
The 27-year-old lost the Roland-Garros final in five sets to Carlos Alcaraz in June, after also going the distance in the 2020 US Open decider before losing a fifth-set tie-breaker to Dominic Thiem.
Zverev confided in his close friend Djokovic after a particularly disappointing loss to Taylor Fritz in the US Open quarter-finals in September. He advanced to Sunday night’s final when 10-time Australian Open winner Djokovic retired because of a hamstring injury after losing the first set.
“My goal is still to compete with the big guys and for these kinds of tournaments, and to try to win them,” Zverev said.
“[To do] that, I need to get better. I need to improve on the court. I need to improve physically. I was still practising through all the tournaments [late last year].
“I was still doing quite a lot of physical training … for these kinds of moments, for grand slams, and hopefully to be able to lift these kinds of trophies.”
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