Jannik Sinner lifted his first-ever major at the 2024 Australian Open after he came back from two-sets-to-love down to outlast Daniil Medvedev in an epic five-set thriller at the Rod Laver Arena, becoming the new King of Melbourne Park. With a 3-6 3-6 6-4 6-4 6-3 win, Sinner became the first player in exactly a decade not named Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal or Roger Federer in the first men’s final since 2005 not to feature any of the “Big Three”.

Medvedev let go four break point opportunities in the second game of the opening set, which comprised five deuces and lasted about 12 minutes, before he managed to soar ahead with a 3-1 lead and subsequently bagged the second set as well. Sinner staged a late fight back in the second set, after he broke back and threatened another.

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With Medvedev showing signs of frailty, having spent more than 20 hours on the court in the lead-up to the final, Sinner capitalised with heavy ball-striking which pushed the Russian further back in the court. The Italian broke in the 10th game of the third and the fourth set, where he even saved a break point at 3-3, before aa crucial break of serve for a 4-2 lead in the decider put him on course for a historic win.

With the victory, Sinner pocketed 3,150,000 Australian dollars as prize money on lifting his first Grand Slam title, while Medvedev earned 1,725,000 AUD as runner-up. The amount made by Sinner is 5.88 per cent more than what Novak Djokovic had earned last year on lifting his 10th Australian Open title, while the Russian made 6.15 per cent more than Stefanos Tsitsipas, who was the other finalist in the 2023 edition.

Australian Open organisers had increased their prize money pool by 13.07 per cent compared to last year’s tournament, implying a figure of 10 million AUD, with the preliminary rounds seeing the largest percentage gains.

“We’ve upped prize money for every round at the Australian Open with the major increases in qualifying and the early rounds of singles and doubles,” Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley had said before the start of the tournament in January. “We want to ensure Australia remains the launchpad for the global tennis season and the players and their teams have everything they need to help them perform at their best and continue to enjoy the Happy Slam.”