Bill Simons
Last night at dinner my friend asked me the eternal tennis question, “Why, if women only play best-of-three sets matches, do they get equal prize money?” This weekend’s two Australian Open singles finals showed why.
Both featured dominant, hard-hitting players who were No. 1. Both Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka had won the two hard court majors in 2024 – the Australian and the US Opens.
Both were facing seasoned veterans in their late 20s who’d gained acclaim and lifted many trophies but had fallen short in their efforts to win a Slam.
But there was a difference.
Eight years after Madison Keys laid an egg in the 2017 US Open final, she scored a thrilling victory that touched the hearts of millions who appreciated her inspiring journey. Maddy’s magical moment was both an instant classic and one of the more heart-warming triumphs in recent tennis history.
Sinner’s win – not so much.
Tonight, fireworks celebrating Australia Day lit the skies of south Melbourne. But there were no fireworks in Rod Laver Arena.
A fleet, lanky, soft-spoken Italian who rules from the center of tennis courts and skillfully bounds out of corners was again letting his extraordinary racket do the talking.
Sinner, the world No. 1, methodically defended his Aussie Open title with a drama-free, 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-3 win over the No. 1 seed Alexander Zverev. The Italian, who’s now the king of hard courts, has won three of tennis’ last five majors.
En route to the final, Jannik did need to brush aside a few bothersome issues. His still unresolved doping case hovered. For a while, Ben Shelton’s power game was a problem.
At times during his run, Jannik cramped and was dizzy. When he took a long, controversial medical time out during his testy fourth round against Holger Rune, critics pounced. The Dane’s mother, Aneka, suggested his lengthy break was part of a wave of “dark arts” that had descended in Melbourne.
Sure, before going into the final, Sinner had a 4-2 losing record to Zverev. But his power off both wings, his quickness and anticipation, his seamless defense, his solid serving, change up drop shot and his ability to absorb power deflated his foe. Sinner, who throughout the match never faced a break point, broke the German in the eighth game of the first set. He shut the door on a couple of fleeting opportunities that Sascha had in the tight second set, which wound up in a tiebreak.
There, he not only benefited from Zverev’s untimely errors – at 4-4 he took full advantage of a spectacularly lucky let cord. He promptly collected the tiebreak 7-4 before sprinting to victory.
Later, Sascha said, “Tennis has five or six massive factors and he does four or five of them better than me…I serve better than Jannik…[but] he moves better than me. His forehand is better than [mine]. His backhand is better, he returns better and his volley is better.”
Zverev’s three losses in Slam finals have all been different. At the 2020 US Open, he blew a two-set lead against Dominic Thiem. At last summer’s French Open, he couldn’t hold onto his 2-1 set edge over Carlos Alcaraz. A botched line call did him no favor. Tonight the lucky let cord was a wretched bad break. But, at least, after Sinner’s lopsided win, Sascha won’t be able to again torture himself over a blown lead.
More than anything, tonight’s final prompted questions:
• The 1980 Russian Olympic hockey team may have been the best team to not win a championship. Matt Damon is perhaps the greatest actor to never lift an Oscar. Brit Colin Montgomerie may be the best golfer to never win a major. And is Zverev the best tennis player to never win a Slam?
• Will Sascha ever win a Slam title? Some, like Andy Murray and Ivan Lendl, broke through after dismal starts. But tonight, Zverev was hardly upbeat. On court he told Sinner, “You’re the best player in the world by far. I was hoping I could be more competitive today but you’re just too good…I’m just not good enough. It’s as simple as that.”
• When Zverev wasn’t smashing rackets or coping with feathers that floated his way, he was quite charming and compassionate, lavishing praise on Sinner and Novak Djokovic. But today, a protester called out to him, saying, “Australia believes Olya and Brenda!” Olya Sharypova and Brenda Patea are the two women who spoke of domestic violence relating to Zverev. In his press conference, Sascha again brushed off the accusations and with apparent sarcasm congratulated the woman who called out for being the only person in the 15,000 seat arena who believed Olya and Brenda. But will the great star ever consider actually opening up and let us know what really happened and whether he has any regrets?
• In April, after his hearing on his doping case, will Sinner be suspended and have to miss the French Open and Wimbledon?
• When Alcaraz won the French Open and Wimbledon, he was said to be the best player in the game. But Sinner has been on fire. He dominated Shanghai, the ATP Championships and Davis Cup, and won a whopping 73 matches last year. Now he’s on a 21-match winning streak and has only lost three sets – OMG. For sure, he’s now the alpha male of tennis. Will he separate himself even further from the field? Could he win the Grand Slam this year? In the end, can the 23-year-old rack up Grand Slam titles in the range of the Big 3?
• How does Sinner compare with Alcaraz and the Big 3? Zverev said that Sinner was very similar to Novak at his best. “They barely miss and they make you feel like you have to over-hit all the time…They don’t give you any space. They don’t give you any time.”
• Will Jannik’s dominance somehow send a message to Djokovic that will prompt the GOAT to say to himself, “Hey, you’ve had a pretty decent career. Maybe it’s time to hang up your sneakers”?
• And will the vast difference between the captivating, feel-good women’s final and the ho-hum men’s final put an end to questions about equal pay? (We doubt it.)
BLAH, BLAH, BLAH: Moments after she’d lost the Aussie Open, a bitterly disappointed Aryna Sabalanka smashed her racket and wept. Yet some 15 minutes later, she’d recovered enough to tease her support team: “As always, it’s your fault, guys. I don’t want to see you for the next week. I really hate you…Thank you so much for everything you’re doing for me and blah blah blah.”
MADDY KEYS, MARRIAGE EXPERT: When Madison Keys was asked how her marriage was going, she replied, “So far, so good…I’m a pro now. We’ve been married for about two months. So if you want marital advice, just call me. I think I’ve got it figured out so far.”
As for having her husband, Bjorn Fratangelo, as her coach, the fun-loving Keys said, “It’s great that we get to see each other…[But] having to admit that he’s right isn’t always my favorite thing, and it happens a lot more than I want it to. But I’m learning to just kind of nod – and he knows that I’m saying he’s right.”
ALL IN ON THERAPY: No top star has so explicitly endorsed therapy as Madison Keys did last night. She emphasized that it wasn’t just a matter of sports therapy, where you try to learn how to deal with pressure so you can win on court. It’s more a matter of digging deep into who you really are as a person, even though it makes you uncomfortable. Keys said that everyone should be in therapy, and that going to a therapist should not have any stigma. It should be simply viewed like going to a doctor.
SENSITIVE SINNER: Zverev said that a few minutes after the final, Sinner told him, “you’ll definitely win one of these trophies. You are too good of a player not to.”
AMERICA ROCKS: We’ve said it before – we’ll say it again: there are five US women in the top 12. Coco Gauff No. 3, Jessica Pegula No. 6, Keys No. 7, Emma Navarro No. 8 and Danielle Collins No. 12. There are five men in the top 22 – Taylor Fritz No. 4, Tommy Paul No. 9, Ben Shelton No. 14, Frances Tiafoe No. 18 and Seb Korda No. 22.
BOUND FOR THE HALL: Madison Keys’s win should guarantee her a place in the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
GO FIGURE: Keys said her setbacks in 2024 “made me stop being so stubborn and start listening to my husband.”…Madison is the first WTA player to beat a No. 1 seed in a Slam since Svetlana Kuznetsova at the 2009 French Open…Women’s doubles runners-up Jelena Ostapenko and Su-Wei Hsieh were given the wrong trophies…When asked what makes Australia so special, Keys replied, “I think it’s the coffee.”
TWINS TRIUMPH: Annika Penickova and her twin sister Kristina, from Campbell, California won the girls’ doubles title.
