Sinner v Medvedev: How the AO 2024 men's final was decided

"(Medvedev may have been thinking) 'if I go back against this guy and give him time on the ball to generate with his forehand, I'm going to be covering a serious amount of court all night'. (He's often happy to do that) but tonight he wasn't,” said Simon Rea, former coach of Nick Kyrgios and Sam Stosur.

"Whether that's physically, or just tactical, I don't know.

"When you're out of your comfort zone, or at the absolute limit of what you're capable of producing, even that can be exhaustive… to repeat that, point in and point out, over a period of time, can wear you down.”

Sinner loosens up

As Sinner settled, and Medvedev flagged, the Italian’s game surged. 

During the shift, Sinner’s forehand was gathering speed, having increased from an average of 122.3 km/h in the first set to 128.7 km/h by the third.

And by the fourth set, he was the player dictating, posting figures unrecognisable to those in the first set. 

Back then, the winner count was 14-5 in favour of Medvedev. In Set 4, it was 15-8 to Sinner.