Finally Djokovic’s Australian Open winning streak comes to an end

Djokovic failed to create a break point for the first time in his career at the majors

Novak Djokovic bemoaned “one of the worst grand-slam matches I’ve ever played” after falling to an inspired Jannik Sinner in the Australian Open semi-finals.
This result was a true outlier. It had been six years since Djokovic lost a match at Melbourne Park. His record in semi-finals and finals here was previously perfect: 20 from 20.
Sinner has therefore achieved something that Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray never managed in 11 attempts: beating Djokovic at the business end of the Australian Open.
Admittedly, none of those great names ever received the sort of head start that Sinner did. Djokovic simply donated the first two sets with a display of such ineptitude that he could have been a qualifier, rather than the most decorated man in tennis history.
“I was shocked with my level, in a bad way,” said an apparently mystified Djokovic after his 6-1, 6-2, 6-7, 6-3 defeat. “There was not much I was doing right in the first two sets. Yeah, not a very pleasant feeling playing this way.”
How about that? 👐The moment @janniksin reached his maiden Grand Slam final after dispatching Djokovic on Rod Laver Arena!#AusOpen pic.twitter.com/9uFtPtJuv8
The stats tell their own story. Going into the third set, Djokovic had hit 11 winners, one more than Sinner. But he had also committed 29 unforced errors to his opponent’s eight. Highlight-reel shots are one thing, but the majority of tennis matches are decided by who can keep the ball in court for longer.
Happily for the 15,000-strong crowd, Djokovic began to snap out of his malaise in the third set. He still wasn’t his true self, but even a B-grade Djokovic (as opposed to the D-grade version we had seen previously) is good enough to make life difficult.
When Djokovic saved a match point deep in the third set, and then snatched the tie-break two points later, many fans must have expected another sensational comeback. He has won from two sets down eight times over his career, including against Sinner himself at Wimbledon in 2022.
Yet there were still tells there, for those who wanted to see them. Djokovic could not find a rhythm on his returns, which are usually his strongest suit. This was his 395th completed match at a major, and the first in which he never held a break point.
Despite a bathroom break at the end of the third set, Djokovic couldn’t find a way of neutralising Sinner’s relentless percentage game, which somehow combined a heavy weight of shot with vanishingly few mistakes: a very Djokovician feat.
His best chance now was a Sinner choke. But Sinner – a man previously known for struggling to close out big wins – has started to believe in himself over the past four months. Crucially, he beat Djokovic twice in ten days at the end of last season. And he drew strength from those memories as he served out for glory, striking a spectacular forehand winner up the line to clinch the win.
So where does this leave Djokovic’s status as world No1 and tennis patriarch? He has won only one of the last three majors, which feels like a low hit-rate by his astonishing standards. His place at the top of the rankings should be safe for a little while longer, as he isn’t defending huge numbers of points until the French Open. But there was a very different feeling to this defeat than his last grand-slam loss, which came against Carlos Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final.
There, Djokovic was probably the better player overall, but missed a crucial drive volley that would have given him an early break in the decider. Here, he was lucky to win a set, and he admitted afterwards that his whole tournament had been short of his usual standards. “The match against [Adrian] Mannarino was great,” he said, with reference to his 6-0, 6-0, 6-3 victory in the fourth round. “But most of the matches I was not playing up to par, so to say, the way I play here in Australia normally.”
Asked if this could be the result of his age (he turns 37 in May) belatedly catching up with him, Djokovic smiled wryly. “Let’s see,” he replied. “Don’t know. I still have high hopes, for other slams, Olympics, and whatever tournaments that I’ll play. This tournament hasn’t been, as I said, up to my standard, but doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s beginning of the end.”
There have been a couple of physical issues for Djokovic, who was troubled by a sore wrist at his build-up event in Perth, and then struggled with a virus in the early part of this fortnight. But this hasn’t held him back before. Both his most recent Australian Open titles came in defiance of torn muscles, or so he said, even if not every member of the locker-room believed him. There was an abdominal tear in 2021, and then, after the Covid deportation saga of 2022, a damaged hamstring last year.
Could the difference this time be a slight reduction in mental intensity? Last year, he came into Australia with a burning desire to right the perceived wrongs of 2022, the year when he was treated with such high-handedness by the entire political establishment. But what, if anything, has replaced that motivational drive? He already stands at the top of the grand-slam table, with 24 titles. There is barely a record that eludes him.
Increasingly, it feels like late-period Djokovic needs a jolt to fire him up. Last autumn, he got it from the Alcaraz loss at Wimbledon. “That p—-d me off so much that I needed to win everything on American soil,” he told the CBS show 60 Minutes in December. “Which I did.”
Judging by that interview, the rest of the locker-room should be ready for a backlash. Sinner’s victory here could have a similarly electrifying effect.
As for Sinner, asked why his game was difficult for Djokovic to handle, he replied: “I don’t know, ask him.”
The Italian added: “We play similar and first of all you have to try and return as many balls as possible. He’s such an incredible server, and I just try to guess sometimes, you know, trying to push, trying to move him around a little bit.
“I’m not going to give you the tactics because I hope I’m going to play him in a couple of different matches.”
Sinner also said that he had learned from previous defeats by Djokovic.
“I was looking forward to this match, it’s always nice to have this kind of player where you can learn from,” Sinner said. “I lost [to him] last year in the semis at Wimbledon, I learned a lot from that, and it’s all part of the process.”
Sinner said he was riding the wave of confidence from last year and looked forward to Sunday’s final, where he will play Daniil Medvedev or Alexander Zverev.
“I have the belief that I can play the best players in the world. On Sunday, I’m in my first final. Let’s see how it goes. I’m really happy, I’ll come here with a smile and try my best.
“I’ll watch it [the next semi-final] for sure, I’m a huge tennis fan. I’m a bit more relaxed now. They’re such incredible players and have played so many times. It’s going to be really interesting.”