Novak Djokovic is out of the 2024 Australian Open as Jannik Sinner proved to be too strong to overcome for him.
The 10-time Australian Open champion has never lost in the semifinal or final of the Grand Slam in Melbourne. Once he made the semifinal stages, he never lost a match, but there was one young Italian who wanted to change that.
Sinner bested the Serbian last year at the ATP Finals, and Djokovic also lost their following match at the Davis Cup, so despite winning his first five matches at the tournament, the 24-time Grand Slam champion knew that he would be facing a real challenge from the 22-year-old.
Coming into the semifinal match, Sinner was yet to lose a set, and his level has been worryingly good for the Serbian. In his previous matches, Djokovic had moments when he was not at 100%, and those were exactly moments that the Italian could capitalize on more than the 36-year-old's previous opponents.
And that was exactly the case in the opening two sets. Djokovic simply struggled to keep the ball in play, producing 29 unforced errors in the first two sets, while making only 11 winners.
On the other hand, the Italian's serving was incredible. He hit four aces and won 85% of points after his first serve, making it impossible for his experienced opponent to even get to break points.
Combined with Djokovic's struggles, Sinner created six break point chances, and he used four of those, breaking his opponent twice in each set to surprisingly lead 6-1, 6-2 after the first two sets of play.
The fact that the young Italian was up 2-0 was certainly not a massive surprise, as he's done it before, when he led 2-0 against the Serbian at Wimbledon, and then lost the match, but what was the shocking part was the scoreline, as Djokovic has won fewer games in the opening two sets of a Grand Slam only once, at the 2005 Australian Open against Marat Safin, 0-6, 2-6.
After those two sets against Safin, he lost the third in a similar fashion, 1-6, but that was not the case against Sinner. The experienced Serbian faced a break point in the opening game of the third set, but after that, the two were perfect on their serves.
At 5-5, 40-40 in the third set, the match was briefly suspended, as one of the fans required medical attention, and it couldn't have been a more tense scoreline to suspend the match at.
However, Djokovic handled the pause perfectly, serving an ace immediately after and holding his serve, and after the fourth seed did the same thing, the third set of the first men's semifinal match had to be decided in a tie-break.
Sinner was down a mini-break twice, but he recovered it every time, and ultimately, it was the youngster, who led by a mini-break at 5-4, with two balls in his hand to finish off the match.
But Djokovic played a great lob to make it 5-5. However, the 24-time Grand Slam champion still faced a match point at 5-6, but he saved it to win the tie-break 8-6 and send the match into the fourth set.
However, early in the fourth set, the Serbian faced a lot of pressure on his serve. First, he faced three break points in his first service game, but he managed to save all of them. However, in his second service game, Djokovic lost a 40-0 lead and faced a break point, which Sinner used to lead 3-1 in the fourth set.
The Italian just kept playing amazing tennis, and he never lost his advantage to record probably the biggest win of his career. He won the match 6-1, 6-2, 6-7(6), 6-3 to reach his maiden Grand Slam final, in which he will face the winner of the match between Alexander Zverev and Daniil Medvedev.
Novak Djokovic vs Jannik Sinner Match Stats:
| Novak Djokovic | 1-6, 2-6, 7-6(6), 3-6 | Jannik Sinner |
|---|---|---|
| 7 | Aces | 9 |
| 4 | Double Faults | 1 |
| 69% | First Serve % | 62% |
| 68% (54/80) | Points Won After First Serve % | 82% (56/68) |
| 44% (16/36) | Points Won After Second Serve % | 62% (26/42) |
| 0% (0/0) | Break Point Conversion | 45% (5/11) |
| 32 | Winners | 30 |
| 54 | Unforced Errors | 28 |
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