Success breeds popularity, and Jannik Sinner's Australian Open win underpinned this notion.
Sinner staked his claim as the new face of men's tennis by winning the first Grand Slam of his career this past week. To do so, he dethroned the defending champion and the most successful ATP player of all time, Novak Djokovic, en route to the title.
Sinner breezed into the final, dropping just one set, and became the third player to beat Djokovic in three tournament categories. But his dream nearly dissipated after Daniil Medvedev took a two-sets-to-love lead in the final.
The Italian, however, did not give in and battled back from the brink to win the next three sets and the championship. Sinner is the first man outside the Big 3 to win in Melbourne since Stan Wawrinka, precisely ten years ago.
Victory has earned Sinner immense acclaim back home, where he was invited to meet the country's controversial Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni despite the disapproval of many critics.
Sinner was also present together with his Davis Cup teammates who triumphed in Malaga last November, at the Quirinal presidential palace in Rome, where Italy's President Sergio Mattarella and other dignitaries were in attendance to celebrate the Davis Cup and Australian Open successes.
The 22-year-old has since witnessed his social media presence become even more noticeable. Sinner garnered over 800,000 new followers in the past week and crossed the two million follower mark on Instagram. This is ironic because he has previously spoken of his distaste from social media.
His Australian Open triumph had a similar effect to that of Carlos Alcaraz, who won last year's Wimbledon final by beating Novak Djokovic and instantly netting over one million new followers. The Spaniard's social media following surged past the four million mark.
Sinner is now among the Top 5 most-followed active men's tennis players on the platform, with 2.2 million followers as of Sunday, February 4th, 2024. Only Rafael Nadal (20.9 million), Novak Djokovic (14.3 million), Carlos Alcaraz (4.5 million) and Nick Kyrgios (4.2 million) have more followers.
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