Nadal will only play French Open if he can ‘compete well’

MELBOURNE: Jannik Sinner claimed his second consecutive Australian Open championship on Sunday, never facing a single break point and using his complete game to outplay and frustrate Alexander Zverev for a 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-3 victory in the final.
Sinner, a 23-year-old Italian, is the youngest man to leave Melbourne Park with the trophy two years in a row since Jim Courier in 1992-93.
Sinner rose to No. 1 last June, remaining there for every week since, and the gap between him and No. 2-ranked Zverev was pronounced as can be in Rod Laver Arena. This was the first Australian Open final between the men at No. 1 and No. 2 since 2019, when No. 1 Novak Djokovic defeated No. 2 Rafael Nadal – also in straight sets.
Here’s how dominant Sinner has been since the start of last season: He has won three of the five major tournaments, including the US Open in September, and his record in that span is 80-6 with a total of nine tournament titles. His current unbeaten run covers 21 matches, dating to last year.
The only thing that’s clouded the past 12 months for Sinner, it seems, is a doping case in which he was cleared by a ruling that was appealed by the World Anti-Doping Agency. He tested positive for a trace amount of an anabolic steroid twice last March but blamed it on an accidental exposure involving two members of his team who have since been fired. Sinner initially was exonerated in August; a hearing in the WADA appeal is scheduled for April.
While Sinner became the eighth man in the Open era (which began in 1968) to start his career 3-0 in Grand Slam finals, Zverev is the seventh to be 0-3, adding this loss to those at the 2020 US Open and the 2024 French Open.
Those earlier setbacks both came in five sets. This contest was not that close. Not at all.
There truly was only one moment that felt as if it contained a hint of tension. It was late in the second set, which Zverev was two points from owning when he led 5-4 and got to love-30 on Sinner’s serve. But a break point – and a set point – never arrived there.
Zverev not got closer, dropping the next four points, making it 5-all. Sinner then emerged with the ensuing tiebreaker. No surprise there: He went 4-0 in those set-deciders over the past two weeks and has grabbed 16 of his past 18.
A year ago, Sinner went through a lot more trouble to earn his first Slam, needing to get past Novak Djokovic – who quit one set into his semifinal against Zverev on Friday because of a torn hamstring – first, before erasing a two-set deficit in the final against 2021 US Open champion Daniil Medvedev.
Beating Zverev allowed Sinner to become the first man since Nadal at the French Open in 2005 and 2006 to follow up his first Grand Slam title by repeating as the champion at the same tournament a year later.

MELBOURNE: The irresistible force of Aryna Sabalenka meets the unbreakable spirit of Madison Keys on Saturday in an Australian Open women’s singles final that promises to be a thunderous slugfest.

Defending champion Sabalenka was hailed by beaten semifinalist Paula Badosa as being so good it was “like she’s playing a PlayStation” after dishing out a merciless straight-sets bludgeoning to her good friend.

The never-say-die American Keys, who will turn 30 next month, saved eight break points and a match point in a nerve-shredding final set against Iga Swiatek that went all the way to a 10-point tiebreak.

“Definitely some big-hitting. I think that is going to happen,” the powerful 19th seed Keys predicted of the final between two similar power players.

“Not a lot of long points.”

The final on Rod Laver Arena begins at 7:30pm (0830 GMT).

Keys and Sabalenka have met five times previously, with the Belarusian winning four, most recently on Beijing’s hard courts last year. Keys’s sole win came on grass in Berlin in 2021.

“She’s playing incredible tennis,” said Sabalenka.

“She’s a very aggressive player, serving well, moving well. She’s in great shape.

“It’s going to be a great battle.”

Sabalenka is guaranteed to remain at world No. 1 because of Swiatek’s defeat, while Keys will break back into the top 10 for the first time since 2019.

A victory in the final will see Keys equal the career-high ranking of seven she reached in 2016.

Both players are on 11-match win streaks after Sabalenka clinched the title in Brisbane and Keys followed suit in Adelaide.

Sabalenka, the modern-day queen of Melbourne Park, has won 20 straight matches on the famous blue hard courts. A 21st will complete a treble not witnessed this century.

The last three-peat in Melbourne was achieved by Martina Hingis in 1999 and only four other women have done it — Margaret Court, Evonne Goolagong, Steffi Graf and Monica Seles.

Three in a row is a rare achievement at any Slam and has only been done this century on three occasions.

At Roland Garros Justine Henin completed the treble in 2007 and Iga Swiatek emulated it last year.

Serena Williams won 23 Grand Slam singles titles but only managed a hat trick once, at the US Open from 2012-14.

Sabalenka will be in her fifth Slam final, Keys in only her second, having lost the 2017 US Open final 6-3, 6-0 to Sloane Stephens.

“I’ve obviously thought of that match endlessly for the past eight years,” said Keys, who broke down in tears after beating Swiatek in a see-sawing contest that lasted 2hr 35min.

“I was so consumed with being nervous and the moment that I never really gave myself a chance to actually play.

“You can also play tennis through that... is one of the biggest lessons that I take from that US Open final.”

The men’s doubles title will also be decided on the penultimate day of action at Melbourne Park.

Italian third seeds Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori will face sixth seeds Harri Heliovaara of Finland and Britain’s Henry Patten in the final.

Bolelli and Vavassori are contesting their second consecutive Melbourne final after losing to Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden a year ago.

The men’s singles and women’s doubles titles will be decided on Sunday, the 15th and final day of the tournament.