After reaching yet another Grand Slam final, Alexander Zverev fell just short once again on the sport’s biggest stage. This time, he was beaten comprehensively by No. 1 seed Jannik Sinner 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-3 in the Australian Open final.

These Grand Slam finals have become defining moments in Zverev’s career due to his inability to lift the big trophy in the end. He moved to 0-3 on the final Sunday of majors with this loss, becoming the first player ever to play his first three major finals at three different Grand Slams and lose them all, per ESPN.

This was the first Grand Slam final that Zverev has lost in blowout fashion. At the 2020 US Open, the German won the first two sets against Dominic Thiem and served for the match in the fifth set, coming within two points of victory before losing in a final set tiebreak. At Roland Garros last year, Zverev held a two sets to one lead against Carlos Alcaraz before the Spanish phenom dispatched him easily in sets four and five to take home the trophy.

Zverev never even got so much as a whiff of the big prize against Sinner, who has been the best player in the world over the last 18 months. Zverev couldn’t create even one break point chance against the Italian, who comfortably hung onto his serve all night long.

Alexander Zverev dominated in a Grand Slam final for the first time

Alexander Zverev of Germany hits a forehand during his match against Ugo Humbert of France in the fourth round of the men's singles at the 2025 Australian Open at Melbourne Park.
Mike Frey-Imagn Image

Coming into the Australian Open final against Jannik Sinner, Alexander Zverev’s problem wasn’t not showing up on the biggest stages. Instead, his issue had been closing out big matches when the finish line was in sight.

Everyone knows about Zverev’s loses to Carlos Alcaraz and Dominic Thiem in his previous major finals, but he has also lost heartbreaking semifinals against Stefanos Tsitsipas, Novak Djokovic, Daniil Medvedev and others. In this match however, Zverev didn’t show up right from the start.

The German’s forehand was all over the place right from the start of the match. He was uncomfortable with Sinner’s pace into that wing and couldn’t hang with the Italian from the baseline. While he was able to serve himself out of a number of jams, he was never able to make Sinner uncomfortable in the loss.

Now, Zverev will continue to search for his first Grand Slam title while being widely known as the best player ever to never win one of tennis’ biggest tournaments. He has won 23 singles titles in total, including seven Masters 1000 crowns and a pair of ATP Finals. He also won the Gold Medal in singles at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Until he gets it done on the biggest stage, however, this cloud will continue to hang over his career.