Nigerian tennis legend, Nduka Odizor, believes there’s a generational shift in the tennis circuit after Jannik Sinner won the Australian Open title in his first-ever final, The PUNCH reports.
This comes after Carlos Alcaraz won Wimbledon last year, before Sinner won this season-opening major in January.
Sinner, 22, battled back from two sets down to beat Daniil Medvedev 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 in a pulsating final last Sunday.
His feat saw him become the the youngest winner in a men’s final and the first Italian player to win the Australian Open and the third to win a Grand Slam, following in the footsteps of Nicola Pietrangeli and Adriano Panatta.
The win was also Sinner’s third straight victory over a top-five player after his quarter-finals victory over Andrey Rublev and his semi-finals upset that ended No.1 Novak Djokovic’s long domination of the tournament.
Speaking on Sinner’s tennis rise in a television interview on TVC, The Duke, as Odizor was fondly called during his playing days, admitted that he was shocked by the power play of the Italian in the final.
“That was a big surprise and that shows that there’s a changing of the guard in tennis and it has dawned on everyone now,” Odizor said.
“The likes of Novak Djokovic, Raphael Nadal and Andy Murray had dominated the scene for over 20 years in the men’s singles but the change of the guard is here. He (Sinner) was full of power after going down by two sets. I want to congratulate him because he showed he deserved it.”
Reacting to his hard-fought win over Medvedev, Sinner had said, “I still have to process it, because, beating Novak in the semis and then today (Sunday) Medvedev in the final, they are tough players to beat.
“It’s a great moment for me and my team. But in the other way, we also know that we have to improve if we want to have another chance to hold a big trophy again.”
