Tennis – Australian Open – Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia – January 26, 2025 Germany’s Alexander Zverev appears dejected after shedding the ultimate towards Italy’s Jannik Sinner REUTERS/Edgar Su
MELBOURNE–Wanting nothing greater than to hoist a Grand Slam trophy, Alexander Zverev discovered it robust to be inside touching distance of the Norman Brookes Problem Cup after his Australian Open 2025 remaining defeat to Jannik Sinner on Sunday.
The German second seed suffered his third defeat in three grand slam finals as world primary Sinner retained his title with a dominant 6-3 7-6(4) 6-3 win in Rod Laver Enviornment.
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Although Sinner supplied variety phrases and a hug, a red-eyed Zverev was inconsolable as he appeared upon one other trophy gone begging in the course of the post-match presentation.
READ: Australian Open 2025: Jannik Sinner surges previous Alexander Zverev to retain title
“It was slightly little bit of a tricky second for me as a result of I actually went within the remaining and… actually thought I had an excellent likelihood as a result of I used to be feeling good,” Zverev instructed reporters.
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“I used to be feeling the ball fairly nicely. I used to be feeling like I can compete.
“Now for the third time, seeing any person elevate the trophy, me standing subsequent to that’s tough as a result of there’s nothing extra I need than to have the ability to maintain a type of trophies in my palms.”
Tennis – Australian Open – Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia – January 26, 2025 Italy’s Jannik Sinner with Germany’s Alexander Zverev in the course of the trophy ceremony after profitable the ultimate REUTERS/Edgar Su
Zverev has had that sinking feeling twice earlier than, surrendering a two-set result in lose to Dominic Thiem on the 2020 U.S. Open and a two-sets-to-one result in fall to Carlos Alcaraz eventually yr’s French Open.
Each these defeats had been galling of their approach however Sunday’s loss could sting much more provided that he couldn’t lay a glove on Sinner.
READ: Alexander Zverev into US Open final 32 regardless of ‘so many doubts’
Even in straight units, the scoreline flattered Zverev who was nicely overwhelmed across the court docket and couldn’t prise a single break level from the Italian.
“Yeah, I imply, right now he utterly outplayed me. From the again of the court docket, utterly outplayed me,” mentioned Zverev, who had hoped to change into Germany’s first males’s Grand Slam champion since Boris Becker received the 1996 Australian Open.
“As I mentioned, I’m serving higher than him however that’s it. He does the whole lot else higher than me. He strikes higher than me. He hits his forehand higher than me.
“He hits his backhand higher than me. He returns higher than me. He volleys higher than me.
“On the finish of the day, tennis has 5 – 6 large pictures, like large elements, and he does 4 or 5 of them higher than me. That’s the explanation why he received.
“He deserved to win right now.”
A 3-times Grand Slam champion on the age of 23, U.S. Open champion Sinner performed like “prime” Novak Djokovic and was by far the perfect hardcourt participant within the sport, mentioned Zverev.
At 27, Zverev has received 23 ATP titles and boasts an Olympic gold medal in his trophy cupboard.
He’s usually described as among the finest gamers to haven’t received a Grand Slam title — a backhanded praise that rankles him.
He mentioned dolefully in his runners-up speech that he would possibly by no means elevate the Australian Open trophy.
Later, he mentioned he would maintain plugging away.
“I imply, I don’t wish to finish my profession as the perfect participant of all time to by no means win a Grand Slam, that’s for positive,” mentioned Zverev.
“I’ll maintain doing the whole lot I can to elevate a type of trophies.”
