Novak Djokovic has a message for 'experts' who 'wanted him to retire'
NewsFriday, 30 January 2026 at 19:20
Novak Djokovic once again proved everyone wrong by magically beating Jannik Sinner to reach the 2026 Australian Open final.
In the entirety of his tennis career since properly breaking through on the ATP Tour, Djokovic has never been a bigger underdog (according to predictions) than he was against Sinner in the semi-finals of the 2026 Australian Open final.
In fact, the Serbian legend was quite lucky to even play the semi-final match. His fourth-round opponent, Jakub Mensik, withdrew from the event, and his quarter-final opponent, Lorenzo Musetti, retired from their match while leading 2-0 in sets.
No one seemed to believe in Djokovic in a match against Sinner. And to be honest, those who doubted his chances of winning were not wrong to do that. Even Djokovic himself said that beating Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz at majors would be "very difficult" for him in 2026.
He was right as well. It was very difficult, but as he jokingly said after the match, he didn't say it would be impossible. Considering all the factors, Djokovic put together one of the most clutch performances of his entire tennis career to beat Sinner 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in four hours and 12 minutes, securing his 11th career final at the Australian Open.
Djokovic has never lost in the Australian Open final before, a streak that Alcaraz will try to end on Sunday. But to do that, he will need to beat a very motivated Djokovic, who is on a mission to prove all of his haters wrong.
Speaking after his sensational win over Sinner, Djokovic mentioned that he saw all the messages and comments from those who wanted him to retire already last year. He used those as a fuel to keep going, and what a great decision that turned out to be.
"I never stopped doubting, I never stopped believing in myself [but] there's a lot of people that doubt me, and there's a lot of experts, all of a sudden, that wanted to retire me, or have retired me many times in the last couple of years."
"But I want to thank them all because they gave me strength, they gave me motivation to prove them wrong, which I have tonight."
During his press conference, Djokovic also analyzed his win. Understandably, he was incredibly tired and probably couldn't wait to start his recovery, but the 24-time major champion still took time to explain that he was very clear about what he had to do to succeed against someone like Sinner.
"I knew exactly what was expect of me on the court, and I came out with the right great clarity and strategy and game plan. [It’s] one thing to imagine how you want to play, and the other thing is to deliver it and execute it on the court against Sinner that we all know is playing an extremely high level."
"Big win, very proud, very happy, very relieved as well, because it was physically very demanding and gruelling. I'm just thrilled to be able to experience something like this tonight."
The plan for the next 48 hours is very simple for Djokovic. First, he will try to rest and recover to prepare for the final match in the best way possible. Then, he will step into the Rod Laver Arena to battle for his 25th major title against Alcaraz in the final, and he will hope that his to-do list will be completed by lifting the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup on Sunday evening.
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