Jannik Sinner progressed into his first-ever Grand Slam final on Friday afternoon at the 2024 Australian Open, but it wasn't all plain sailing as emotions overwhelmed him at one point.
Throughout his playing career, Novak Djokovic has always been compared to a cat with nine lives because of the difficulty it takes to beat and put him down. And as Sinner found out the hard way, even with a two-sets-to-love headstart and holding a match point, he was never assured of a win.
The Italian played lights-out tennis in the first two sets, with Djokovic being slow off the blocks. Sinner won the first two sets in 75 minutes, dropping just three games in the process and breaking Djokovic's serve four times.
Djokovic's unforced error count began to get ugly on the stats sheet. Despite taking an early lead in the third-set tie-break by going 4-2 up, Sinner won four of the next five points to stand at match point.
It was on Djokovic's serve. And after getting the rally to neutral, Sinner made an uncharacteristic error by netting a routine forehand. Djokovic won the next two points and pumped his fist, almost as if announcing he was back in the contest.
Djokovic has done it so many times in the past to his opponents, where he appears on the brink of defeat but manages to resuscitate himself and save the day. A disappointed Sinner feared the worst and was seen venting by knocking over his water bottles during the changeover.
Lucky for the 22-year-old, he managed to regain his composure in the third despite blowing the massive opportunity he had on his racket. He secured a break of serve midway through the fourth set coolly consolidated his advantage, and served Djokovic out of the tournament.
Sinner is now just the third man after Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer to beat Djokovic in three tournament categories - Grand Slams, ATP Finals, and Davis Cup. And incidentally, he is the youngest men's finalist at the Australian Open since Djokovic himself.
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