Having left Melbourne annoyed at falling to Novak Djokovic in January, Jannik Sinner demonstrated his willingness to learn from painful experiences when dispatching the legend in authoritative fashion at Wimbledon on Friday.
In their first clash since Djokovic prevailed in a thrilling Australian Open semi-final finishing well after midnight, Sinner continued his defence of the Wimbledon title with a strong 6-4 6-4 6-4 in 2hr 20min over the 24-time major champion.
Watch the biggest Aussie sports & the best from overseas LIVE on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.
With his seventh triumph from 12 outings against the all-time great, the reigning Wimbledon champion set up a final against recent Roland Garros champion Alexander Zverev on Sunday in a decider featuring the world’s top-ranked men.
Zverev earlier booked a spot in his maiden Wimbledon final when ending the fairytale run of English wildcard Arthur Fery 7-6 (0) 6-2 6-4 in 2hr 14min. Sinner has won his last nine outings against the German, including the 2025 Australian Open final.
The Italian was in blistering form on Friday and always looked sharper than the 39-year-old, whose hopes of securing a 25th grand slam title appear longer as each grand slam passes, despite still playing superb tennis.
Djokovic was embraced at length by Sinner at the net and then paused for a lengthy farewell wave to the crowd as he received a standing ovation. If he is to return to Wimbledon in 2027, the record-breaker will be 40, but that is his plan for now.
“I feel when I’m healthy, I’m still able to play as a top-five player, still able to compete at the highest level. I like it. I like this life. I mean, tennis has given me everything in my life and has allowed me an opportunity to become who I am,” he said.
“At the same time, you know, of course there’s always a question how far you want to go, what you want to play, how you want to play, et cetera, et cetera. I go through that process, but I try to take it, in a sense, a day at a time, see how I really feel.
“I don’t have any pressure or no one is forcing me to play. I do it because I really want to and because I still can. I still can play as a top-10, top-5 player. Yeah, let’s see what’s future brings.”
READ MORE: Hewitt on cusp of breaking 15-year Aussie drought after latest sizzling Wimbledon display
Importantly for Sinner, the maestro has also navigated the challenges of what has been a hot Wimbledon without showing signs of vulnerability, which is a positive for Sinner after the scares he endured in Melbourne in January and Paris in late May.
His level against the veteran was extraordinary, with the Serbian later saying his opponent was far too good for him in what was a “good old blowout”.
“The atmosphere has been always amazing since since the first day, and it means a lot to me that I that I can play one more final here,” Sinner said.
“It’s the most special tournament we have and it means a lot to me. And of course, playing against Novak, you know that what he is still showing is truly inspirational, not only for you guys, but also for the new generation.”
In their Australian Open semi-final, Djokovic was able to absorb the pace of Sinner on a cool Friday night, with the world No.1 becoming increasingly frustrated and thoughtless as he blasted the ball without being able to break the veteran.
As he left the court, Djokovic thumped his chest in triumph, the 10-time Australian Open champion momentarily reclaiming his Kingdom on Rod Laver Arena before being summarily dismissed by Carlos Alcaraz in the final.
On Friday Sinner demonstrated far more variety, as evidenced in the pivotal breaks he secured in the first and second sets.
Sinner struck his first blow at 4-all in the opening set with a blistering backhand passing shot struck with the velocity of a bullet, a sizzler that followed a surreal moment a point earlier when he shanked a smash on top of the net.
After some parry-and-thrust between the pair in the second set, the four-time major winner came through a brief flat spot with distinction and was able to break for a 4-3 lead with a sublime drop shot. In contrast to Melbourne, it showed he was thinking.
With the seven-time Djokovic looking increasingly forlorn, Sinner seized another break in the opening game of the third set by rifling a backhand return at the feet of the incoming Serbian, with the blow sucking further energy from the icon.
Befitting the champion that he is, Djokovic strived to find a way back into the match and had a break back opportunity trailing 1-2 in the third set, but Sinner snuffed that chance out immediately by thumping an ace down the T.
As brilliantly as Sinner strikes his groundstrokes, his greatest strength might just be his serve, for any time his rival had a half-sniff of gaining some momentum, the Italian would land another monster serve.
“Attack? You cannot attack his first serve. You can try to read it, chip it, block it, get it back in play,” Djokovic said.
“(It is a) very unpredictable serve (with) great variety, great balance, great pop. He’s using his height extremely well. Also (his) second serve (is) very deep in the box. (It has) a lot of rotation. He can go for speed. He doesn’t make many double-faults. He’s just super solid. He backs it up with first aggressive shot.
“If you play a shorter return, you’re again on your back foot. It’s really, really tough to play him, particularly when he serves (so well).”
Sinner has struck a tournament high 113 aces for the tournament and leads or sits in the top five of most statistical categories over the fortnight.
“I mean we always have very, very tough matches and the last one he won in the semis in Australia, so I tried to make a couple of adjustments, even though here on grass it’s very difficult,” Sinner said.
“I tried to stay quite aggressive, serving very well, which helped me a lot today. In my point of view, (he is) the best returner we have seen in our game, so I tried to know to mix it up.”
Djokovic had played the longest ever quarterfinal when edging Felix Auger-Aliassime in a five set epic lasting 5hr 15min on Tuesday and while he had an additional day to recover, the superstar felt half-a-step off the pace throughout against Sinner.
The 24-year-old, in contrast, has worked his way into form across the fortnight after being extended to five sets by Djokovic’s compatriot Miomir Kecmanovic in the opening round.
His progression to the final means that Sinner has the chance to right a quirk. He is the dominant world No.1 and is in the midst of a historic run at Masters level – the tier just below the majors – having won six straight titles.
But after his success at Wimbledon over Carlos Alcaraz last year, he was beaten by the sidelined Spanish sensation in the US Open final and by Djokovic at Melbourne Park before a stunning French Open exit when melting in the intense heat in Paris.
“Especially coming here, I feel like every round is different because of the grass. It’s changing a lot, so you need to adapt yourself,” Sinner said.
“I knew mentally that today I had to to raise my level, which I’ve done. So I’m very happy. I’m glad that … my team puts me in the best possible position to perform in this way and … I’m happy (with) where I am.”
Sinner advances to semi in straight sets | 01:48
The fairytale run of the appropriately surnamed Fery was ended by Zverev, but not before the English wildcard gave local fans something to cheer for when producing some brilliant tennis in the opening set.
The 114th ranked Fery, who grew up in Wimbledon, created history this fortnight when pushing further than any other English wildcard in the past, with his run including top wins over Grigor Dimitrov and Flavio Cobolli, the French Open finalist.
The biggest roar came when, after dropping his second service game, he was able to retrieve the break with some brilliant court craft and deft touch, with one sublime exchange while trailing 3-1 drawing a standing ovation.
In a match pitting a Goliath in Zverev versus a David in Fery, both in terms of their height disparity but also their career achievements, the Londoner pushed the first set to a tiebreaker.
But after failing to win a point in the tiebreaker, the mammoth serving of the recent Roland Garros champion overwhelmed the 23-year-old, who will rise to a ranking inside the top 40 as a result of his tremendous Wimbledon.
“It’s going to change things, for sure. I’m going to be able to play tour events at least for a full year, hopefully for more,” he said.
“It’s going to be interesting (and) important to see how I deal with that change and everything that that brings in terms of expectations from myself, from the public, from everyone.
“(I’m) already looking forward to that. It’s going to be a challenge to deal with all of that, but I’m conscious of it already and that’s the first step.”
Zverev, meanwhile, has now reached the decider of all four majors but is mindful of the immense challenge facing him against Sinner, who has dominated their rivarly for the past three years after the German won four of their first five encounters.
But it is indisputable the 29-year-old is in the form of his life after his breakthrough in Paris last month and he is one win away from joining Djokovic and Alcaraz among active players as men’s to complete the English Channel double in the same year.
“I think there’s two things to it. I think, yes, one thing, for sure, once you win a major, you know how to do it and you feel like you can do it again. You have this feeling inside of you,” he said.
“The second thing (is that) I feel like I worked on my game a lot. I feel like my game has improved. Sometimes in sports it’s as simple as that.
“When you improve your forehand, when you improve your backhand, when you improve your serve, when you improve your return, you’re going to win more matches. It’s sometimes as simple as that.
“You can talk about mental stuff, you can talk about … certain situations, coaching changes, whatever. But if you improve as a player and you make the decision as a player to improve, you’re going to do better in tournaments.”