WATCH: Jannik Sinner Exchanges Romantic Kiss With Girlfriend Anna Kalinskaya After Winning US Open 2024 Final, Video Goes Viral

Jannik Sinner became the first Italian tennis player to clinch the US Open 2024 with his 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 over American Taylor Fritz. Immediately after winning the final, Sinner went into the stands to kiss his girlfriend Anna Kalinskaya, who has been a constant in almost every match of the world No. 1 around the world.

Kalinskaya is a top WTA tennis star from Moscow in Russia. She is ranked world No. 14 in the world currently in singles with 3 doubles titles to her name as well. Sinner had announced in May 2024 that he was dating Anna but wanted to keep his relationship ‘private’. Kalinskaya, who is best known for upsetting Sloane Stephens in the opening round of US Open 2019, shared a romantic kiss with Sinner who had gone into the stands after winning his maiden US Open title on Sunday night.

WATCH Jannik Sinner kiss his girlfriend Anna Kalinskaya HERE…

 

Jannik Anna pic.twitter.com/1AYpbiYYxV

— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 8, 2024

Sinner started slowly at the US Open 2024, dropping the first set he played after being exonerated in a doping case no one knew about until shortly before play began at Flushing Meadows. If that episode initially hung over him during the tournament, Sinner was able to put it aside while on court. Was he ever.

“It was, and it’s still, a little bit in my mind,” Sinner said. “It’s not that it’s gone, but when I’m on court, I try to focus (on) the game, I try to handle the situation the best possible way. … It was not easy, that’s for sure, but … I tried to stay focused, which I guess I’ve done a great job, mentally staying there every point I play.”

This 2-hour, 15-minute victory gave him a second Grand Slam trophy — the other was at the Australian Open in January — and prevented No. 12 Fritz from ending the major title drought for American men that has lasted 21 years.

Andy Roddick’s triumph at Flushing Meadows in 2003 was the last Slam title for a man from the United States. The last before Fritz, a 26-year-old from California, to even contest a final at one of the four biggest tournaments in tennis also was Roddick, who lost to Roger Federer at Wimbledon in 2009.

“I know we’ve been waiting for a champion for a long time,” Fritz said, “so I’m sorry I couldn’t get it done this time.”

Still, this tournament was a success in many ways for US tennis, with two women and two men from the country all in the semifinals for the first time at a Major since the 2003 US Open. Jessica Pegula reached the women’s final before losing to Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus.

Sinner improved to 55-5 with a tour-high six titles in 2024. That includes a 35-2 mark on hard courts, the surface used at both the Australian Open and US Open. He’s the first man since Guillermo Vilas in 1977 to win his first two Grand Slam trophies in the same season.

This was the first year since 2002 in which no member of the Big Three — Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal or the retired Federer — won at least one major. Instead, Sinner, who is 23, and Carlos Alcaraz, 21, split the four Slam titles. “Nice to see new champions,” Sinner said. “Nice to see new rivalries.”

Sinner, who dedicated this win to an aunt that is in poor health, said the months before his case was resolved were not easy. “It was very difficult for me to enjoy in certain moments. Also how I behaved or how I walked on the court in certain tournaments before … was not the same as I used to be,” he said, “so whoever knows me better, they know that something was wrong. But during this tournament, slowly I re-started to feel a little bit more how I am as a person.”

(with AP inputs)