Jannik Sinner remains king at the Australian Open

There is no better player on the ATP tour right now than Jannik Sinner. That could change soon, but more on that in a minute. Let's start with how dominant he remains, especially on hard courts, and how he dispatches the worthiest of opponents. In the final of the Australian Open, he made Alexander Zverev seem like he wasn't a top-10 player.

Zverev, over the last six months, has been the most consistent and best in-form player on the tour, except for Sinner. The divide between the German and the Italian is vast, just as it is between Sinner and any other player.

Sinner defeated Zverev 6-3 7-6(4) 6-3. What was difficult to discern was whether Zverev was playing poorly or whether Sinner was just that much better than everyone else on hard courts. The Italian committed 18 fewer unforced errors than the German, but he had seven more winners. His efficiency and execution were astounding even for him.

Jannik Sinner defeats Alexander Zverev to win second straight Australian Open title

Zverev is one of the best servers in the sport. He often ranks near the top in terms of getting his first serve in, and therefore, first serve points won. The German still landed 68 percent of his first serves, but he was also broken twice. Sinner landed fewer (60 percent), but he never faced a break point. He also won 84 percent of his first serves.

One of the issues everyone has when playing Sinner is there is no clear way to beat him. He can move as well as anyone on tour, he hits with more than enough power, his serve is elite, and he does not mentally beat himself. In other words, he has more ways to take out another player while they have fewer chances again at him. One has to hope Sinner just has an off day.

He certainly did not in the final of the 2025 Australian Open against Zverev, and now Sinner has won three of the past five Grand Slams. That includes his second straight win in Melbourne. He might not reach Novak Djokovic's record of 10 Australian Open titles, but Sinner is only 23 years old so a run at the Serb's record cannot be counted out.

There is one huge problem facing Sinner, however. He could still be suspended due to two failed drug tests last March at Indian Wells. His hearing on an appeal from the World Anti-Doping Agency is set for this spring. Should WADA win the appeal, Sinner and the sport of tennis would be greatly affected.