The 36-year-old Djokovic lost in Melbourne after 33 matches. He has been on a winning streak since 2019. He did not participate in the tournament two years ago because he arrived in Australia without the mandatory vaccination against covid-19, but he returned to the throne last year. Now he could win the 25th Grand Slam title, which would make him independent at the head of the historical ranking ahead of the Australian Margaret Court.
World No. 4 Sinner confirmed that he has been doing well against Djokovic lately. He did not offer the Serb a single break point in the match and beat him for the third time in the past four matches. “I was looking forward to this match because it’s always great to have a player like that against you that you can learn from. I lost to him in the semifinals at Wimbledon last year and I learned a lot. It’s all a process,” Sinner said on court.
Sinner is also the first Italian to beat the world number one at a Grand Slam since the ATP rankings were established in 1973. At 22 years and 163 days, he is also the youngest men’s singles finalist at the Australian Open since Djokovic in 2008. On the court, he held the development of the match in his hands from the beginning. He took a 3-0 lead in the first set, relying on a 100% serve and towards the end, he took Djokovic’s serve once more. He won the opening set in 36 minutes.
Even in the second set, Djokovic couldn’t find a recipe for Sinner’s serve. He himself lost serve again twice and lost the set again. Djokovic faced 0:2 at the Australian Open only for the fourth time in his career. “I started off great and for two sets I felt (Djokovic) wasn’t feeling too well. That’s why I tried to keep pushing,” said Sinner.
“He completely outplayed me,” said the 36-year-old Djokovic to the 22-year-old Sinner. “I was shocked at how badly I played. In the first two sets I almost didn’t get anything going. It was one of my worst performances at a Grand Slam,” he added. “But to be honest, I didn’t feel very good here on the courts from the beginning. And I never came close to the maximum performance that I have. Someone will say that the semi-final is a good result, but I have higher goals,” he declared .
