Jannik Sinner thanked his parents for letting him choose tennis over skiing and football after coming from two sets down to win his first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open on Sunday.
Sinner lost the opening set and was 5-1 down in the second before beginning a fightback that culminated in a stunning 3-6 3-6 6-4 6-4 6-3 victory at Melbourne Park.
The 22-year-old completed his comeback with a bullet forehand down the line, becoming the youngest men’s Grand Slam singles champion since Novak Djokovic in 2008.
Sinner, from the Dolomites in northern Italy, was a national skiing champion as a junior and also a promising footballer before deciding to concentrate on tennis as a teenager.
“I wish that everyone could have my parents because they always let me choose whatever I wanted to,” Sinner said.
“When I was younger I also made some other sports and they never put pressure on myself. I wish that this freedom is also possible for other young kids.
“The support has been crazy throughout the whole two weeks. It’s a court with 15,000 people but it feels like much more, so thank you so much everyone.”
Sinner’s victory made him only the second Italian man in the Open Era to win a Grand Slam and the only one, male or female, to do so at the Australian Open.
For 2021 US Open champion Medevedev, it was a third defeat in the final of the tournament, all in the last four years, and a fifth in all.
Sinner’s maiden Grand Slam made him ther first Italian to win the Australian Open
“It has been an amazing two weeks. It always hurts to lose in the final but probably being in the final is better than losing before. I will try even harder next time,” the Russian said.
Addressing Sinner, Medvedev added: “Probably that’s not your last Grand Slam but hopefully I can get the next one. Big congrats and you deserve it.”
It caps a breakthrough few months for Sinner, who last year reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon, the final of the ATP Finals and then led Italy to glory in the Davis Cup.
His emergence as a major contender also eases fears that men’s tennis may lack regular Slam winners once Djokovic and Rafael Nadal follow Roger Federer into retirement.