Novak Djokovic’s reign at the Australian Open is broken by Jannik Sinner.
He is the personification of the inevitable. He slowly starts to get the blood and synovial fluids moving because he knows he has several dozen higher tennis gear that he can use when necessary.
He is aware that only a few people in the history of the sport have been as good as him. One of them is likely eating fondue, another is working on his hip, as well as the youngest got angry earlier this week.
It looks like Djokovic sometimes gives his younger opponents an extra set just for fun. But even by these slow standards, the first round of the Australian Open semifinal between the top seed and the fourth seed, Jannik Sinner, got off to a strange start.
It looked like Djokovic was just hitting routine rally balls through the net. As he walked along the baseline, this contortionist, who slowly goes into out-of-top splits while running at full speed, kept losing his balance.
A little bit of it reminded me of the time he was possessed by a poltergeist in China in 2013. Djokovic’s favorite backhand down the line didn’t work on Friday. In between points, he was running into the shade to rest.
It looked like the guy was permanently busted. Sinner jumped ahead 6-1 and 6-2. But the 22-year-old knew from a terrible loss at Wimbledon in 2022 that a two-set lead doesn’t mean anything.
Every second, Djokovic could start making a Superman pose to add to his career highlight reel.
He almost lost his cool when he missed a match point in the tiebreak of the third set. Djokovic got his serve back, but Sinner held on and beat them for his third time in four matches, 6-1, 6-2, 6-7(6), 6-3. This put him in his first major final.
Before, he beat better Djokovics, but this time, all he had to do was focus on and beat the copy in front of him.
After the game, Djokovic said some harsh things about himself and praised his opponent’s play.
“Look, I was, in a way, shocked at that level—in an adverse way,” he stated. “During the first two sets, I didn’t do many things right.” I guess this is among the worst Grand Prix matches I’ve ever performed, at least that’s what I remember.
In his five previous encounters in Australia, Djokovic had made an average of 31.4 unforced errors.
By the end of the second set, he had almost reached that number and ended up with 54. “I didn’t feel truly myself on the playing surface during that tournament,” he stated.
He had an ungodly record at this tournament: 10 titles, no losses after making it to the semifinals, and a 33-win streak that began with his upset of Hyeon Chung in 2018.
For you some fans out there, that means it had been 2,195 days since Djokovic lost a match in Melbourne. That’s the same streak he had before Carlos Alcaraz broke it at Wimbledon.
These things could explain why he broke from form: With the sun shining, this is the first time in 15 years that Djokovic was able to play a match this late in the tournament.
The cooler temperatures and slower court pace during the night session in Rod Laver Arena are his favorite parts of tennis. He said this after winning the title in 2023.
Novak Djokovic’s record 33-match winning streak at Melbourne Park as well as his bid for a 25th Golden Slam crown were both ended by Jannik Sinner on Friday. Djokovic was trying to become the greatest tennis player of all time.
The fourth seed from Italy didn’t let the fact that he lost the first set of the tournament to the Rod Laver Arena king bother him. He went on to win 6-1, 6-2, 6-7 (6/8), 6-3 and reach his first Grand Slam final.
In the title match on Sunday, he will play either third-man Daniil Medvedev and sixth seed Alexander Zverev.
He said, “It was a very tough match.” “I got off to a great start. In the initial two sets, he missed. He didn’t seem to be in a good mood on the court, so I kept pushing him.
Ten-time champion Djokovic had not lost the Australian Open since 2018. He was trying to win a record-setting 25th Grand Slam title, but Sinner spectacularly ruined everything.
Early in the match, Djokovic had no answer for his 22-year-old opponent. He also didn’t help his cause by making 29 unforced errors in the first two sets, which was very bad for him. Sinner, on the other hand, only made eight.
The super-cool Sinner, who didn’t care that he was playing a man who hadn’t lost a semifinal match at Melbourne Park, jumped out to a 3-0 lead while the 36-year-old wasn’t playing at his usual steady pace.
Italy broke again during the sixth game and won the set when Djokovic’s forehand went long. At the start of the second set, the noise level on the center court went up, and Djokovic took control with a stronghold.
But he kept making mistakes, and Sinner, who had dispatched Djokovic twice in their previous three matches, broke in the final game to take control of the match like a vice.
It was a packed stadium, and people were yelling “Nole” to help Djokovic. But his was broken again, and he fell two sets behind.
At 5-5, 40-40, the match was stopped so that medical staff could treat a fan in the crowd. Djokovic ignored the break to keep her serve, and the set moved to a tie-break.