The two young talents have showcased different strengths on their respective victorious runs in Europe.
Sunday’s Vienna Open witnessed Sinner triumph over Daniil Medvedev in a hard-fought 7-6(7), 4-6, 6-3 battle. Reflecting on his performance, Sinner remarked, “A lot has gone into this mentally and physically.”
“Staff” seems like a word you could use when nothing else comes to mind. However, its ambiguity was fitting for Sinner’s performance. Surviving at 22 requires much more than just hitting rockets from the baseline. His groundstroke power and shot-making precision have never been in question. This victory, however, demonstrated how much he’s progressed in all aspects of his game over the past 12 months.
While the Vienna final may not go down as the match of the year, for a few minutes, it could be the most brutal. It was top-of-the-line but relentless—its three-hour duration, its pace, its intensity, its prolonged rallies, and the mix of baseline grind and serve-and-volley that both players brought made it feel like a five-set slugfest.
At one point, Sinner found himself sprawled on the court, his towel draped over him. Medvedev, on the other hand, readied himself with his racket. There were plenty of rallies where every breath counted.
“I was a little bit tense,” Sinner chuckled in his post-match remarks.
This month’s final didn’t quite match the intensity of their first clash in February. Sinner had claimed the first set in Beijing with a tiebreak, but Medvedev came back to win. Their 2023 finals, a back-and-forth battle between the Italians and Russians, saw Medvedev take the first two titles in Rotterdam and Miami, while Sinner won this month’s opener in Beijing after two tiebreaks. This victory, in which Medvedev’s seventh attempt to seal the deal against Sinner fell short, marked a significant milestone in Sinner’s career, propelling him to a career-high No. 4.
This win proves that it wasn’t a fluke.
In his quest to storm the gates, Sinner will need more than just unexpected shot combos and powerful backhand strikes. He’ll need to maximize his mental and physical reserves and play with a finesse that would make his idol, Rafael Nadal, proud. The third set will be a test of Sinner’s patience.
First, after Medvedev’s 2-1 lead, Sinner squandered seven break points before eventually falling behind 5-2. Finally, with the match on the line at 5-3, he saved two match points to close out the second championship point.
“I tried to push a little bit in the third set,” Sinner said. “I had a lot of break points, I couldn’t use them, and then I did, so I’m very happy.”
“Absolutely, the match had to be finished; it was truly a mental issue, but I am very happy with the way I managed today and getting another title makes me very happy.”
Sinner always had the big shots, but he has never closed out the big matches. Now, when he’s rising to the top, all the necessary elements are there for him to win those matches. Each player goes through ups and downs. But in my eyes, Felix Auger-Aliassime is the most commendable. Over the past two seasons, on two different surfaces, he has fallen so low that I wondered if he would ever play top-level tennis again.
The first was at the 2022 US Open, where he was shockingly ousted in the second round by a Jack Draper. Auger-Aliassime was only 22 years old, but he looked as lost as yesterday’s news. He wasn’t, of course. The following month, he won three straight titles and defeated Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal in the ATP Finals.
This season has brought a second moment of doubt for me. I knew he was nursing a foot injury, but his early-round losses in the weeks leading up to this season made me wonder if his age was catching up with him. Three young players, Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, and Holger Rune, seemed to be on the rise when FAA was struggling.
Again, I’m pleased to say that my worries were premature. This week, FAA has taken flight, winning five straight matches and saving his trophy at the Swiss Indoors. He dispatched Rune in the semifinals and overcame a spirited challenge from Hubert Hurkacz in the Turin final with a 7-6(3), 7-6(5) win.
Auger-Aliassime has played with a combination of explosive athleticism, pinpoint aggression, and unwavering service power. He hit 13 aces and 43 winners. He won 93 percent of his first-serve points and never faced a break point. At the net, he was 13 for 17.
In the match-defining tiebreaker, FAA showed a break from his typically solid season’s record.
In the first breaker, he went up with a winning smash, a Noa-style inside-in forehand, and another winning volley with a high volley. And a well-placed forehand pass took me to a mini-break until the end. In the second tiebreaker, Auger-Aliassime delivered five winners, including two during serve and three to win the last three points from 4-5 down.
“I definitely came back,” Auger-Aliassime said. “I let my racket do the talking. That’s always been my career mantra. There were a lot of doubts about my performance, and why, this year. I’ve never doubted myself, but proving it in court is good.”
Both times, the doubters were silenced.
