Twelve months ago, when Jannik Sinner advanced to what was then the biggest final of his career at Turin’s Inalpi Arena, many saw it as a harbinger of things to come.
It has not taken the 23-year-old Italian long to make good on those intimations of sporting immortality and, after winning two grand slam titles already this season, the world No 1 added another feather to his cap on Sunday with a first victory at the season-ending ATP Finals.
With his polished 6-4, 6-4 victory over Taylor Fritz, in what was a repeat of September’s US Open final and also a replica of his group-stage win over the big-serving Californian by the same score, Sinner completed a flawless week’s work, earning a $4.8m (£3.8m) cheque for his troubles.
He becomes the first Italian champion in the history of the season-ending showpiece, and the first player to win the eight-man event without dropping a set since Ivan Lendl in 1986. Sinner finishes the season with eight titles in all, just as Lendl did, and his record of 70 wins and just six defeats is also uncannily close to the Czech’s 74-6 record that year.
That Sinner was able to achieve it all in front of a raucous and adoring home crowd only magnified the sense of occasion. If Fritz was under any illusions about the enormity of the task facing him, they were dispelled as the opening game, when his opponent stroked a sumptuous backhand winner to claim his first point. The deafening clamour with which even that minor success was greeted offered a foretaste of what lay ahead for the American, who has now been consigned to defeat by Sinner in the two biggest matches of his career.
Sinner, who had never previously won a senior professional title in his native country, follows in the footsteps of Andy Murray, whose 2016 victory in London marked the last time the ATP Finals were won by a player competing on home soil. Following his Australian and US Open victories, the Italian joins Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic as only the third player in history to compete a clean sweep of the sport’s three biggest hard-court prizes. He finds himself in ever more illustrious company.
“I just tried to play the best possible tennis I could in every single moment,” said Sinner after his 26th win in 27 matches. “The crowd helped me a lot. It was for sure one of the most special weeks I’ve had on a tennis court.
“It’s a very nice way to finish off an incredible season. A lot of wins, a lot of titles.”
Where he goes from here is another matter. The controversy surrounding two failed drug tests earlier this year has not gone away, with the Court of Arbitration for Sport set to hear the World Anti-Doping Agency’s appeal against his exoneration by an independent tribunal, on the basis of contamination, early next year. With the Australian Open starting on 12 January, however, Sinner will almost certainly embark on his first defence of a grand slam title with the affair still hanging over him.
For the moment, though, such considerations can wait. This was another clinically efficient performance from Sinner, who has now won each of his past four meetings with Fritz, his only loss coming when they crossed swords for the first time three years ago in Indian Wells. It has been another milestone tournament for Fritz, who advanced to the final with wins over Daniil Medvedev, Alex de Minaur and Alexander Zverev – his fourth straight victory over the German world No 2 – and though he cut a disconsolate figure as he sat at courtside afterwards, his disappointment did not prevent him from offering a clear-headed appraisal of Sinner’s excellence.
“What I was really impressed with today was how he served,” said Fritz, who watched 14 aces whistle by and was unable to convert his only break point of the contest. “He served absolutely lights out. So many lines.
“He placed the serve great. He took a lot of risk on the second serve as well. I think that was probably one of his main game plans, to not let me attack his second serve. He did a great job of not only mixing up the second [serve] but also being very aggressive with it.”
It meant the onus was on Fritz to hold, and his determination to do so was evident in the seventh game, when he staved off the first two break points of the match in style. Even when a loose backhand followed by a double fault landed him in further trouble, Fritz was equal to the challenge, defending brilliantly to stay in the game. But Sinner was not to be denied, forcing an error with an immaculate return before caressing away a drop shot.
Not for the first time in a week when the Italian painted the town orange with his smooth-striking excellence, the stadium was shaken to its foundations by chants of “Olé, olé, olé, olé, Sinner, Sinner”.
There would be another fevered explosion of joy at 2-2 in the second set, when Fritz made a dog’s breakfast of a drop shot to hand his opponent another opening. Once again, the American fought off the initial danger only to come a cropper, eventually blasting a forehand long to concede a second and ultimately decisive break.
While Fritz must be content with a career-high ranking of No 4 and a memorable run to the title round at Flushing Meadows, where he became the first American man since Andy Roddick in 2009 to reach a grand slam final, Sinner’s rise continues apace. Simone Vagnozzi, who coaches the Italian alongside Darren Cahill, ranked the victory alongside his countryman’s two grand slam wins.
“For sure it was an amazing year.,” said Vagnozzi. “We started with a victory in Australia and we finished with the trophy here. It was really long year, stressful year, but we are happy with everything we achieved, first two slams for Jannik, first win here in Italy with the ATP Masters.”
More will surely follow. Among Sinner’s chief rivals, Djokovic will seek to come back stronger next season after failing to win a major for the first time since 2017, while the likes of Fritz, Zverev and Medvedev will also hope to have a say in the destination of the big prizes.
For now, though, only Carlos Alcaraz – winner of the French Open and Wimbledon, and architect of three of Sinner’s half dozen defeats in 2024 – looks capable of thwarting the Italian’s seemingly inexorable rise. Alcaraz, that is, and the panel of Cas arbitrators who will convene in Lausanne, Switzerland, in the coming months to decide whether the man of the moment should be banned for up to two years.