Facing Sinner, particularly on hard courts, reminded Zverev a lot of trying to solve the challenge presented by none other than 24-time major champion Novak Djokovic.

“He’s very, very similar to Novak when he was at his best. They barely miss. Like, barely miss. They make you think like you have to overhit all the time to have a chance in a rally against them,” Zverev said after losing to Sinner 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-3 at Melbourne Park on Sunday night.

“It’s very, very difficult to win a point from the back of the court against them — against Novak and him,” said Zverev, who is ranked No. 2 but felt much further away from No. 1 Sinner in Rod Laver Arena.

“(Both) move, obviously, tremendous. They’re constantly on the baseline. They don’t give you any space. They don’t give you any time.”

Sinner, still just 23, is a long way from achieving just a fraction of what Djokovic has at 37, of course.

And just as Djokovic had a couple of hurdles by the names of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal to deal with, Sinner is not alone among the newest generation of tennis stars. His top rival at this point is Carlos Alcaraz, who has four Slam victories at age 21 — and won all three matches he played against Sinner in 2024.

Still, it made sense to think of Djokovic while watching Sinner extend his record in major finals to 3-0, which includes a U.S. Open title in September.

What about Jannik Sinner is similar to Novak Djokovic?

The never-give-an-inch court coverage. The squeaking sneakers while sprinting, stretching, sliding to reach shots that most other players wouldn’t. The ability to flip from defense to offense in a split second. The wherewithal and reflexes to neutralize even the biggest servers.

Add it all up — plus a serve good enough to avoid any break points against Zverev — and Sinner is certainly formidable.

Those Djokovic-like tendencies are not mere coincidence.

Sinner, who is from Italy, modeled himself after the Serbian star.

“Game style-wise I looked up to him, trying to understand what he’s doing, how he handles the pressure moments and important moments,” Sinner said. “I still believe we are different as players, because everyone is different, but for sure we have similarities. The similarities are having quite clean ball-striking from the baseline, having good movement, understanding a little bit where your opponent (is going to play) the ball.”

Australian Open champion Sinner keeps improving

The swift improvement Sinner has made over the past couple of years is unmistakable.

It’s why he ascended atop the rankings last June and hasn’t budged. It’s why he is 80-6 with nine titles since the start of last season. It’s why no one wants to play him these days.

Zverev was 4-2 against Sinner before Sunday, including wins at the U.S. Open in 2021 and 2023.

How much has Sinner changed since then?

“He serves better. He returns better. He hits his forehand better. He hits his backhand better. He moves better. He volleys better. I mean, there’s nothing that he doesn’t do better right now,” Zverev said.

“I remember those matches. Before, I always felt like once I was getting on top of the rally, I was winning most of those rallies. Now it’s like he’s prime Novak. It’s so difficult to go through him.”

The upcoming task will be to get better on clay and grass, the surfaces at the French Open and Wimbledon. Before play begins at Roland Garros in May, Sinner has a hearing scheduled in April in the World Anti-Doping Agency’s appeal of a ruling that cleared him in a doping case.

“At the moment, I’m not thinking about this,” Sinner said. “Of course, you have your moments, (on) certain days, where you feel like: ‘I wish I would not have this problem.’”

Sinner and his coaches talk a lot about growing his game

Sinner and his two coaches, Simone Vagnozzi and Darren Cahill, all talk a lot about putting in hard work to grow even more as a player.

“He’s still young. … You never know what’s (going to) happen in the future, but for sure, he is a guy that tries to improve every day — going on court, (in) practice, trying to put new things (in) his game, trying to improve physically,” Vagnozzi said. “He’s one of the guys that can reach the top level. I mean, when we speak about top level, we think about Novak, about Roger or Rafa.”

Pretty heady company.

Credit: AP

The 35-year-old remains on track to win a record 21st Grand Slam title in Melbourne and his first Australian Open title since 2009.

Berrettini made the world No 5 work for his victory by taking the third set and holding much of the momentum in the fourth. However, a key Nadal break at 4-3 helped the Spaniard claim a 3-6 2-6 6-3 3-6 victory.

“It means a lot to me to be in the final again here,” Nadal said on court with a smile on his face.

“For me, it’s all about the Australian Open more than anything else. It’s just an amazing event that I’ve been a little bit unlucky [at] with some injuries in my career.

“Also, I’ve played in some amazing finals with good chances against Novak Djokovic in 2012 and Roger Federer in 2017, I was close a couple of times.

“I was very lucky to win it once in my career and I never thought about having another chance in 2022, so I’ll just try and enjoy the victory today and then just try my best.”

Nadal and Matteo Berrettini spent two hours and 55 minutes on court inside the Rod Laver Arena

Seventh seed Berrettini began nervously in his third Grand Slam semi-final and found his weaker backhand ruthlessly exploited by Nadal, who seemed to be cruising into the final.

Berrettini, the beaten finalist at Wimbledon last year, did not manage to apply any pressure or force his opponent to leave his comfort zone for two sets but in the third things slowly began to turn.

The Italian had played Nadal once before, at the US Open in 2019, and had not created a break point. Finally, he managed it in the eighth game of their sixth set.

Berrettini has one of the biggest forehands in the game and a memorable running pass helped him to 0-40 before he clinched the break with another winner.

Nadal had been dominant against Denis Shapovalov in the quarter-final at two sets to love up, before things became extremely complicated, and the sixth seed was looking significantly less sharp physically early in the fourth.

The 20-time Grand Slam winner dug deep to stay on terms and, when he sensed an opening on the Berrettini serve, he pounced.

Berrettini saved one break point at 3-4 after the rally of the match, only to dump a forehand in the net on the second. From there, Nadal went on to secure the contest and cut an extremely emotional figure after securing victory

After having six months out due to injury, and Nadal himself saying that those who have been close to him do not believe he is able to play at this level again, a sixth Australian Open final awaits on Sunday.

Credit: Sky Sports