Who: Jannik Sinner vs Alexander Zverev
What: Australian Open males’s singles remaining
The place: Rod Laver Area, Melbourne, Australia
When: Sunday, January 26 at 7:30pm (08:30 GMT)
Comply with Al Jazeera’s dwell build-up earlier than our textual content and photograph stream of the match.
Defending champion Jannik Sinner will look to seal back-to-back Australian Open titles and deny second seed Alexander Zverev a maiden Grand Slam crown within the males’s remaining on Sunday.
Additionally on Sunday, the ladies’s doubles remaining sees high seeds Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend face Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-Wei and Latvian Jelena Ostapenko.
After an exhilarating ladies’s remaining on Saturday, by which Madison Keys ended Aryna Sabalenka’s two-year reign as Australian Open champion, Al Jazeera focuses on what guarantees to be one other blockbuster finale between the 2 high seeds.
Who’s the favorite to win the Australian Open males’s remaining?
A yr after overhauling Daniil Medvedev in five sets in the 2024 final, Jannik Sinner will probably be favorite to win Sunday’s decider and turn out to be the primary man to retain the title since Novak Djokovic’s “three-peat” from 2019-21.
Prime seed Sinner would turn out to be the eleventh man to go back-to-back within the skilled period, becoming a member of the likes of Roger Federer (2006-07, 2017-18) and Andre Agassi (2000-01).
Having received the US Open final yr, Sinner might additionally turn out to be the primary Italian to win three Grand Slam titles, shifting previous his tie with Nicola Pietrangeli, a back-to-back winner of the boys’s singles at Roland Garros (1959-60).
How did Sinner attain the ultimate?
Sinner arrives within the remaining in high kind, having received his final 20 matches.
He thrashed Australian primary Alex De Minaur within the quarterfinals and likewise beat rising American talent Ben Shelton in straight sets within the semis.
Bodily, although, it has not all been clean crusing for the 23-year-old, who suffered a cramp towards Shelton and had dizzy spells on a sizzling day throughout his four-set win over Holger Rune within the fourth spherical.
With a most 27 levels Celsius (81 F) forecast on Sunday, Sinner could also be relieved that the match is scheduled within the night cool.
What has occurred to Sinner’s doping case?
His run to the ultimate has come whereas a longstanding doping case stemming from failed drug exams final March hangs over his head.
Although cleared to play by tennis’s integrity authority, the World Anti-Doping Company (WADA) is looking for a ban of as much as two years for the Italian on the Courtroom of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The hearing is set for April.
What has Sinner mentioned earlier than the ultimate?
Sinner has to this point proved impervious to exterior distractions, although, and the additional weight of being defending champion.
“I’m making an attempt to take the issues away in my head, the strain,” he mentioned. “Even when it’s simple to say, however tough to do.
“I’ll attempt to do this and likewise get pleasure from these moments. We received six very, very robust matches.”
20 – Jannik Sinner is the second-youngest participant within the Open Period to win 20 consecutive arduous courtroom Males’s Singles Grand Slam matches – older solely than John McEnroe in 1981. Historic.#AO2025 | @AustralianOpen @atptour pic.twitter.com/3esTgugPRu
— OptaAce (@OptaAce) January 24, 2025
What probability does Zverev have within the remaining?
As a teenage up-and-comer, Zverev as soon as generated the identical stage of pleasure that Sinner loved earlier than his maiden Grand Slam title win at Melbourne Park in 2024.
Nevertheless, predictions of main trophies haven’t come to go for the 27-year-old German regardless of a few near-misses.
He was overhauled by Carlos Alcaraz within the French Open remaining final yr when he was two sets-to-one forward and likewise surrendered a two-set result in fall to Dominic Thiem within the 2020 US Open decider.
Regardless of wielding an enormous serve, one of many sport’s most potent backhands and respectable courtroom motion for a 6 ft-6 in (1.98-metre) man, Zverev is weak to wilting below strain and has struggled to shrug off perceptions of psychological fragility.
Is that this a brand new begin for Zverev?
As soon as shut down on the Grand Slams by Djokovic, Federer and Rafa Nadal, the youthful technology led by Sinner and Alcaraz has extra just lately emerged to thwart Zverev’s ambitions.
Chastened by his French Open remaining loss to Alcaraz final yr the place he drained late within the match, Zverev re-hired coach Jez Inexperienced to construct endurance for five-set matches.
He comes into Sunday’s remaining comparatively contemporary after Djokovic retired injured after one set of their semifinal, which Zverev received.
What has Zverev mentioned earlier than the ultimate?
With Sinner virtually unmatched for the efficiency and accuracy of his shot-making, Zverev’s finest probability of victory could also be in dragging the Italian into a protracted dogfight and placing his serve to work in tiebreaks.
“Once more, my aim remains to be to compete with the large guys and to compete for these sorts of tournaments and attempt to win them,” mentioned Zverev.
“I’m wanting ahead to Sunday. I do really feel like I’ve completed the work, and I do really feel like I’m prepared for it.”
Head-to-head
Zverev holds a 4-2 profitable report over Sinner which incorporates hardcourt victories on the 2021 and 2023 US Open tournaments.
However Sinner received their final match on hardcourt at Cincinnati final yr when he was just about untouchable.
It’s all including as much as back-to-back AO finals 🦊 @janniksin #InfosysStat • #AusOpenWithInfosys pic.twitter.com/2HXRkHQE0i
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 24, 2025
What’s the prize cash?
The overall prize cash is $59.8m, a 12 p.c improve from 2024.
The Australian Open will hand out a $2.16m reward for singles champions and males’s and ladies’s doubles champion groups will obtain $502,000.
The breakdown within the singles class (women and men) is:
Champions: $2.16m
Runners-up: $1.17m
Semifinalists: $0.68m
Quarterfinalists: $412,242
Spherical of 16: $260,363
Third spherical: $179,759
Second spherical: $123,974
First spherical: $81,822
The place to observe, observe and stream the Australian Open tennis Grand Slam?
Al Jazeera will present dwell textual content and photograph protection of the boys’s and ladies’s singles finals.
The official broadcasters of the Australian Open are:
Africa: beIN Sports activities and SuperSport.
Europe: Eurosport, SRG SSR.
Asia Pacific & Oceania: ESPN, Tennis Channel, beIN Sports activities, CCTV, iQIYI, GDTV, WOWOW, 9, Stan Sport, Digicel, CJ ENM, TDM, ESPN Worldwide, SKY, Sportcast and Ok-Plus.
India & subcontinent: Sony Sports activities Community.
Latin America & Caribbean: ESPN Worldwide.
Center East: beIN Sports activities.
North America: ESPN, TSN, RDS and Tennis Channel.
Central Asia: Sony Sports activities Community and Eurosport.
