World number four Jannik Sinner won the 2024 Australian Open to capture his maiden Grand Slam over world number three Daniil Medvedev in a thrilling five-set classic, carving his name in the history books.

A spectacular performance and night that won’t be forgotten.

Both players left absolutely everything in the three hours and 44 minutes they spent on Rod Laver Arena, showcasing what tennis at the highest level can produce.

From Medvedev finding himself in pole position to capture his first Australian Open title to slowly succumbing to the relentless Sinner – it encapsulated tennis’ unpredictable nature.

The catalyst for Sinner’s comeback? Breaking the Medvedev serve for the first time towards the end of the second set, even though the 22-year-old eventually lost it 6-3 and was down two sets to love.

That was a small but crucial mental victory for Sinner. He had struggled to impose himself in the first two sets, but that was largely due to the Russian’s unusual aggressive approach.

It caught everyone watching the match by surprise, but no one was more stunned than Sinner.

But something changed.

Sinner flipped a switch and started producing some amazing tennis.

The composure he showed despite a poor start is a testament to his maturity at such a young age, especially playing in your first final at a Grand Slam.

The ball started to rocket off the Italian’s racket, while his confidence grew larger as the match went on.

His resurgence to come back and win the final three sets was highlighted by his forehand shot down the line.

It ultimately proved to be the key in leading the Italian to claim his first Grand Slam, becoming the first Italian male to win one since Adriano Panatta won the French Open back in 1976.

On the flip side, statistically, this will be a tournament to forget for Medvedev.

So much effort and energy exhorted only to come up short yet again in Melbourne.

While achieving an Open era record of playing 31 sets in total and playing more than 24 hours on court at this year’s slam (most in history), he is the first player in Grand Slam history to lose two finals being 2-0 up. The first loss came at the expense of his battle with Rafael Nadal two years ago.

The 27-year-old has had to swallow two agonisingly close losses in the space of three years.

But one thing we know for sure about the 2021 US Open champion: He will continue his hunt to claim a second Grand Slam title.

What about for Sinner? Has the seed now been planted for him to go on and achieve so much more?

It’s an exciting prospect when you consider the likes of Sinner (1) and 20-year-old world number 2 Carlos Alcaraz (2) already have three Grand Slams between them.

Two players looking to be the face of tennis moving forward.

That being said, the likes of Andrey Rublev, Alexander Zverev, Holger Rune, Hurbet Hurkacz, Taylor Fritz and Stefanos Tsitsipas are all players in the men’s top-10 aged under 30 itching for their first Grand Slams.

While the future of tennis looks to be in good hands, there are still a few legends at the top of the game.

This includes 24-time Grand Slam champion and current world number 1 Novak Djokovic at 36 years of age. Although the Australian Open favourite lost his first match at the tournament in six years to Sinner in the semi finals, we know that the Serbian is more than likely to add to his Grand Slam collection.

And even though Nadal is getting on in age like his long-time rival Djokovic and facing injury issues at the back end of his career, the 22-time Grand Slam winner will always pose a difficult task to overcome.