ROME - Suddenly, against all odds, Italy lords it over the tennis world. Last month, when it closed out 2023 by winning the Davis Cup, hopes were high that Jannik Sinner, the 22-year-old from Alto Adige, would make a deep run at the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of 2024. He advanced through the early rounds against lower ranked opponents without losing a set. But then in the semi-finals he confronted Novak Djokovic, still No. 1 at the age of 36, still in the hunt for a record- breaking 25^th Grand Slam title. Although Sinner had beaten the Serb in two out of three recent matches, the smart money was on Djokovic to add to his total of 10 Australian Open titles.

 To the astonishment of the crowd in Melbourne, and to Djokovic’s deep consternation, the carrot-topped Italian breezed through the first two sets 6-1/6-2. Match commentator John McEnroe remarked that Sinner hadn’t had to do much more than keep his groundstrokes deep and blast his serves past the man reputed to be the best returner in tennis. McEnroe predicted that Djokovic would now take one of his infamous bathroom breaks, interrupting Sinner’s momentum, and bounce back. But the Serb remained on court and kept the third set close, saving a match point in a tie break and holding on to win the third set. It now seemed possible, even probable, that Djokovic would do as he had so often done in his career—tie the match at 2-2, then go on to crush Sinner whose fans were chewing at their orange souvenir carrots. Instead, Sinner resumed his virtually error free tennis, and captured the deciding set 6-3.

 On the opposite side of the draw, Sascha Zverev of Germany bolted to a two- set lead over Daniil Medvedev. But the Russian raised the level of his game and with his octopus-armed style squeezed the life out of Zverev, winning his semifinal in five grueling sets. This added to the list of Medvedev’s long, exhausting matches, one of which had kept him on court until 4 AM.

 TV commentators opined that the Russian had surely run out of gas and would need luck and Herculean effort to outplay the Italian for the championship. Instead, after Medvedev rampaged through the first two sets, running Sinner from corner to corner with topspin ground strokes, the Italian, who had started off in childhood as a high-altitude Alpine skier, dredged in a second wind and slowly worked his way back into the match. Now it was Medvedev’s turn to lumber from side to side, visually weakening. To conserve energy, he tried to serve and volley, but he was an easy victim of Sinner’s pinpoint passing shots and capitulated 6-3 in the 5^th set.

 Daniil Medvedev, who can sometimes be churlish on court, was the soul of graciousness in defeat. The same can’t be said of the Australian crowd which showered the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese with boos during the trophy ceremony. They were reported to be protesting tax cuts for the rich that Albanese had recently introduced. One man who didn’t complain is Janniki who pocketed over $2 million for claiming his first Grand Slam title.

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 Michael Mewshaw is the author of 23 books, the most recent of which is My Man in Antibes: Getting to Know Graham Greene.