'I want to enjoy this one. This one has a different feeling (and) means so much to me'
'I was hoping that I could be more of a competitor today but you're too good'
'I don't know if I'll ever be able to lift the trophy but I'll keep coming back, I'll keep trying'
Jannik Sinner retained his Australian Open title with an emphatic 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-3 win over Alexander Zverev on Sunday, breaking new ground for Italian tennis and leaving his German rival smarting after a third Grand Slam final defeat.
The world number one became Italy's first player to win three Grand Slam crowns, moving past Nicola Pietrangeli who won back-to-back men's titles at Roland Garros in 1959-60.
A year after mowing down Daniil Medvedev in five sets for his first major trophy, Sinner sapped his second Melbourne Park final of all drama as he wore down Zverev with suffocating pressure and claimed the match with clinical execution.
The one-sided win in the floodlit Rod Laver Arena underlined the 23-year-old's status as the game's pre-eminent hardcourt player, if robbing fans of a proper contest.
"I want to enjoy this one. This one has a different feeling (and) means so much to me," Sinner said.
For all Sinner's joy, a long-standing doping case continues to hang over his head.
Though cleared to play by tennis authorities, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is seeking a ban which could derail his French Open plans. A hearing is set for April.
For Zverev, the result is another bitter blow, his third defeat in three Grand Slam finals.
Left in tears, his miserable night was compounded by a heckler in the crowd who made reference to domestic violence allegations he faced in recent years.
"First of all, it sucks standing here next to this thing and not being able to touch it," the red-eyed German said of the winner's Norman Brookes Challenge Cup.
"Congrats to Jannik, you're the best player in the world by far. I was hoping that I could be more of a competitor today but you're too good."
"I don't know if I'll ever be able to lift the trophy but I'll keep coming back, I'll keep trying."
Zverev gave up the decisive break in the sixth game of the third set but, arguably, the German's spirit had already been broken by an unlucky net cord that turned the second-set tiebreak in Sinner's favour.
It was level pegging at 4-4 in the tiebreak when Sinner fired into the net-cord and saw the ball dribble over.
Sinner thumped down a huge serve to raise two set points and converted the first, thrashing a furious forehand winner from the baseline.
Gutted, Zverev smashed his racket as he returned to his chair and whacked it again after sitting down.
The sting was entirely gone from the contest as Zverev dropped serve to trail 4-2 in the third set with a forehand that sailed over the baseline.
There would be no last stand from Zverev, nor any wobble from Sinner who did not cough up a single break point for the match.
Sinner sealed the win with a backhand passing shot on the first match point and celebrated by clambering into the terraces to embrace his entourage.
For Zverev, the wait for a maiden Grand Slam title will go on after he finished runner-up to Carlos Alcaraz at last year's French Open and gave up a two-set lead in defeat to Dominic Thiem in the 2020 US Open decider.
There was more sourness as he went to the microphone to congratulate Sinner, with a person in the crowd yelling repeatedly: 'Australia believes Olga and Brenda'.
In June last year, Zverev's lawyers said he had agreed a settlement after the mother of his child, Brenda Patea, accused him of physical abuse and a German court closed the case.
Zverev repeatedly rejected the allegations by Patea.
In January 2023, the ATP, citing insufficient evidence, closed an investigation that had been launched after another ex-girlfriend, tennis player Olga Sharypova, accused Zverev of domestic abuse.
Asked about the heckler, Zverev said: "I believe there are no more accusations."
"There haven't been for, what, nine months now. Good for her."
"I think I've done everything I can and I'm not about to open that subject again."
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