Novak Djokovic looked impossible to beat in Melbourne for many years, but this year, Jannik Sinner stepped up to get it done.
The Italian has given Djokovic trouble recently, beating him twice in a short period of time at the end of last year, becoming one of the very few players to do so. Djokovic was still favored ahead of this match, but Sinner had a pretty good chance to beat him.
Ultimately, he bested Djokovic in four sets, as the Serbian produced a shockingly bad effort for a good portion of that match, totaling 29 unforced errors in the first two sets alone.
He had only ten winners in the same time span, which shows how badly he played. Sinner, to his credit, played really well, pushing Djokovic into a very uncharacteristically nervous playstyle.
The Serbian admitted that Sinner deserved to win after their semifinal match at the 2024 Australian Open, as he outplayed him completely, which is true.
"Well, first I want to congratulate Sinner for playing a great match, great tournament so far. He's deservedly in the finals. He outplayed me completely today. Look, I was, in a way, shocked with my level in a bad way. There was not much I was doing right in the first two sets (smiling)."
Many were confused by Djokovic's level, including himself, but it happens. He's only human, and he'll play a bad match here and there. Sinner is too good not to use that, and that's why he won. Maybe five years ago, he could have wiggled his way out of this match, but not this time.
"I guess this is one of the worst Grand Slam matches I've ever played. At least that I remember. Not a very pleasant feeling playing this way. But at the same time credit to him for doing everything better than me in every aspect of the game."
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