Jannik Sinner had a tremendous time Down Under, and none of this was a huge surprise to Patrick Mouratoglou, who expected his success.
The way Sinner has been trending in the past few months, the fact that he played well at the Australian Open is hardly a surprise. He's been amazing in the past few months, winning an ATP Masters 1000 trophy, an ATP 500 trophy, making the ATP Finals final, and then leading Italy to the Davis Cup trophy.
If you add two wins over Novak Djokovic in a very short time period, you can see that the Italian took a step forward in his career. Mouratoglou looked back on the Australian Open and highlighted that palpable rise in level as the main reason he was not surprised with how the event unfolded.
"At the end of 2023, I said this year could be Sinner’s year. So it’s not surprising for me [that Sinner won the Australian Open]. What was very impressive with Sinner is that he was able to play the match that we expected from him. Novak was not there [in the semi-finals] but Sinner played the exact match he was supposed to play."
Sinner's victory over Djokovic surprised many because it was an impressive display. Djokovic never stood a chance, but that was also because he wasn't 100% fit. Another impressive thing for Mouraotglou was the poise with which Sinner handled his maiden Grand Slam final.
He didn't play well at the start of the match, getting surprised by Daniil Medvedev's aggressive style, but he still rallied to win in five sets. He was down 0-2 in his maiden Grand Slam final against a more experienced player, and he still won.
"When he played his first Grand Slam final, he was able to deliver, and do this until the end of the match—deliver his level. He could have choked a lot at the end. He did not choke."
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