Novak Djokovic surprisingly fails in the semi-finals of the Australian Open. He has no chance against Jannik Sinner for long stretches.
Novak Djokovic congratulated Jannik Sinner fairly at the net, packed up his bag and disappeared frustrated into the belly of the Rod Laver Arena: The Grand Slam record champion failed miserably in the semi-finals of the Australian Open and has to wait for his eleventh title in Melbourne. Sinner dethroned the Serb on Friday 6:1, 6:2, 6:7 (6:8), 6:3 and reached the final of a major tournament for the first time.
On Sunday, the 22-year-old South Tyrolean will face the Russian Daniil Medvedev, who beat Germany’s number one Alexander Zverev in an intense duel with 5:7, 3:6, 7:6 (7:4), 7:6 ( 7:5), 6:3 prevailed. “That’s unbelievable, I don’t really know what to say,” said Sinner: “The self-confidence from the end of last year made me believe that I could compete against the best. I’m very happy that I can play my first final can. We’ll see how it goes.”
For Djokovic (36), an impressive series ended after 33 wins in a row at Melbourne Park – so far, the ten-time tournament champion at Yarra River had always won the title when he had reached the semi-finals. “That was one of the worst Grand Slam matches I’ve ever played,” said Djokovic, who didn’t feel like himself during the tournament. Sinner “did everything better than me.”
For Sinner, alongside the Davis Cup victory with Italy in November, it is already the greatest success of his career. He defeated Djokovic for the third time in the last four games; in his first major semi-final he was clearly defeated by Djokovic in three sets at Wimbledon last summer.
Djokovic acted unusually incorrectly and nervously in the first set, Sinner played powerfully and used his break opportunities ice-coldly. Even in the second half, the Serb was unable to find his dominant game despite having numerous fans behind him; Sinner always had advantages in the baseline duels. “I had the feeling he didn’t feel very comfortable on the pitch,” said Sinner.
In the third set, Djokovic woke up, after a short medical treatment for a spectator, fended off a match point with strong nerves and won the dramatic tiebreak.
But in the end it didn’t help: Sinner turned things up again in the fourth set, used his second match point after 3:22 hours of play, made it to the final – and inflicted Djokovic’s first defeat in Melbourne since 2018. In 2022 he was expelled from Australia due to a lack of a corona vaccination and was unable to compete.
Coronation of the oldie? Bopanna has her sights set on the Melbourne title
The Indian tennis professional Rohan Bopanna is currently experiencing at least his second spring at the Australian Open – and at the tender age of 43 is reaching for the crown in the doubles competition. It was initially clear from his semi-finals that he would become number one in doubles for the first time after the tournament, but now Bopanna also wants the title alongside his partner Matthew Ebden in his first Melbourne final.
“This is extremely special, it’s fantastic to be in a Grand Slam final again,” said Bopanna after the 6:3, 3:6, 7:6 (10:7) against Thomas Machac (Czech Republic) and Zhang Zhizhen (China). The 2017 French Open mixed doubles winner and the Australian Ebden will meet the Italians Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori in the final on Saturday morning (CET).
The jump to number one in the world rankings, which Bopanna will officially achieve after the Grand Slam, still felt surreal for the oldie, even after a little distance. “Honestly, I’m still figuring it out. I’ve gotten a lot of messages and a lot of love,” he said. “I think when the tournament is over and I’m at home for at least a few weeks, I can have this moment But of course I’m very, very proud to be in this position.”
Bopanna, who has been a professional on the tour for over 20 years but never made it into the top 200 in singles, is in good company with his advanced age in the top 10 of the doubles world rankings. All ten professionals are already well over 30, Edouard Roger-Vasselin from France and the Mexican Santiago Gonzalez are both already 40.