Jannik Sinner cemented his status as the best player in the world by beating Alexander Zverev in straight sets to defend his Australian Open title.
The world number one, who is still only 23 years old, has won his last 21 matches in a row. He has three Grand Slams, plus last year's US Open along with his two titles here.
At the moment, on hard court, he is too good. He won this final 6-3, 7-6, 6-3 without conceding a single break point. However, there was a great streak of luck for a man who doesn't need it. At 4-4 in the second set tiebreaker, Sinner hit a forehand that grazed the net and leapt to score the winner.
But you make your own luck, and while I'm not sure there's a law of physics to justify it, I always feel that the harder a ball is hit on the net tape, the more likely it is to break through. To adapt Gary Player's famous quote, the harder I hit it, the luckier I get.
And Sinner hit him harder than Zverev; He was more proactive, more aggressive and more creative. The German has played in three Grand Slam finals and is still looking for a breakthrough.
The 27-year-old has long faced accusations of passivity in big games. Despite his 6-foot-6 height and 140 mph serve, he too often sets up camp behind the baseline. It seems like all Zverev is doing is waiting for his opponent to play badly, and he'll have to wait a long time against Sinner.
Jannik Sinner won the Australian Open with a straight sets victory over Alexander Zverev
Sinner's blow was too clean, too precise. And, in a way, so was Zverev's: stroking the ball constantly back and forth is playing to Sinner's strengths.
It takes an agent of chaos like Tristan Schoolkate, the Australian who took a set from him in the second round, or Ben Shelton, who should have won the first set of their semifinal, to bother Sinner on a hard court. Or a genius shooter like Alcaraz.
Zverev had actually won four of their six meetings, but those dated back to Sinner's early years on the tour. He's been a different animal since late 2023. He has a lanky, wiry physique and is still in the process of filling out that 6-foot-4 frame.
His counter-attacking game has developed enormously. He glides on a hard court as if it were clay, or even on the slopes where he was a junior ski champion, and that allows him to take balls that others would defend and throw a whiplash forehand.
Let's talk about that forehand for a second. In its beautiful and terrifying violence, the way the racket spins around your shoulder as you follow it is reminiscent of Tiger Woods' golf swing. Like Woods, Sinner emerged and simply hit the ball harder than anyone; the sound of the racket or club has a different tone.
Alcaraz and others can surpass Sinner with a single shot, but for consistent, rhythmic power there is no one who can match him.
To his credit, Zverev at least tried to take the match to his opponent. He approached the net 26 times and tried to hit with his forehand more than usual. But that's not his game and it showed, Sinner intercepted him at the net and Zverev's forehand leaked errors.
So Sinner's dominance remains total. He will be a favorite in all hard court events for the foreseeable future. Their next mission is to continue advancing on natural clay and grass surfaces. Alcaraz won the French Open and Wimbledon last year and Sinner must try to get at least one.
However, whether he will get the chance will depend on a couple of days in Lausanne in April. Sinner's doping case, of which he was initially cleared without fault, is now before the Court of Arbitration for Sport, with World Anti-Doping seeking a suspension. A two-month ban would keep him out of Roland Garros; four months would also end Wimbledon.
That doping cloud was one of the two elephants crowded into the Rod Laver Arena. The other applies to Zverev, whose domestic abuse case brought by the mother of his child was resolved in June without a decision on guilt or innocence. This was the second accusation of domestic violence made against him, and in the first instance no charges were filed.
Perhaps in part because of those two issues, the atmosphere was subdued in Rod Laver Arena, and it largely stayed that way as it became increasingly clear that there was no contest.
At least on a tennis court, Sinner is untouchable.