A rivalry that was born at Wimbledon will now grace the stage at the 2024 Australian Open. In a blockbuster semifinal, defending Melbourne champion Novak Djokovic and the red-hot Jannik Sinner will share the singles court for the first time since three meetings across two weeks at the close of last season.
Djokovic won the first three installments of this rivalry, including late-round Wimbledon wins in 2022 and 2023, but Sinner asserted himself last November by beating the Serb in the ATP Finals group stage and at the Davis Cup Finals. In between those two contests, Djokovic outdueled Sinner in the ATP Finals title match, denying the Italian the trophy on home soil in Turin.
Ahead of their first meeting since Sinner saved three match points to keep Italy alive at the Davis Cup, the 22-year-old is relishing the opportunity to take on the 10-time Australian Open champ.
"This is what I practice for, to play against the best players in the world," Sinner said before their seventh matchup. "Obviously he has an incredible record here, so for me it's a pleasure to play against him, especially in the final stages of the tournament where things are a little bit more interesting.
"I'm looking forward to it, to be honest. It's going to be tough. This I know. I will control the controllable, which is giving 100%, having the right attitude, fighting for every ball. And then we'll see the outcome. More than this, I cannot do. It doesn't really matter who my opponent is. So I'm really looking forward to it and trying to prepare it in the best possible way."
Sinner soars into the semifinals in the best form of his young life. He won his first ATP Masters 1000 title in Toronto in August and backed that up with trophies in Beijing and Vienna before leading Italy to the Davis Cup crown. Entering Melbourne at a career high of world No. 4, he ripped through his quarter of the draw without losing a set, leaving three seeded opponents in his wake (Andrey Rublev, Karen Khachanov, Sebastian Baez).
Beating Djokovic at the Australian Open is one of the most herculean tasks in all of sports. But beating him in the Melbourne semifinals or beyond has proven impossible: He has lifted the title in each of his 10 prior trips to the final four.
Still, Sinner's peers are talking up his chances of ending Djokovic's 33-match winning streak at the event.
"The thing is, Jannik is playing so good now," said semifinalist Daniil Medvedev, who was dispatched by Djokovic in the 2021 AO final. "So if I'm 100% honest with you, if you ask me who—let's say I'm in the final—who do I want to play: Novak, who [almost] never lost here, is going for some crazy stats, or Jannik, who is not losing a set even when he's 5-1 down in the tiebreak [against Rublev] and stuff like this...
"I don't know. I really don't know," he said with a smile. "I want them to go seven hours, 30 [minutes], tiebreak 30-28 in the fifth, and then maybe let's see if they are a little bit tired on Sunday.
"I think it's going to be a great match. I'm really going to enjoy it as much as I can. I'm going to prepare my match, but if I have some time to watch, I'm going to enjoy it. They had a great rivalry end of the season with Turin, Davis Cup, so I'm really, really going to enjoy it and let's see who wins."
Carlos Alcaraz, the 2022 US Open men's singles champ, agrees with our 2021 titlist. As the only man to beat Djokovic at a Grand Slam last season, he was asked if anyone could match that feat this fortnight. (It won't be Alcaraz himself, after a four-set quarterfinal loss to Alexander Zverev.)
"It's not easy to beat Novak in a tournament, but I think it's even tougher in a Grand Slam," said the Spaniard, who is 1-1 against both Djokovic and Sinner at the majors. "But he has to face Jannik Sinner, who is playing an unbelievable game. He has not dropped a set in this tournament. That means that he has the level and the capacity to beat Novak."
With three of the ATP's top four players having weighed in, how does the world No. 1 see the semifinal?
Because the matchup was not set at the time of his latest press conference, the 37-year-old was not asked about Sinner after his four-set quarterfinal win against Taylor Fritz. But he has been full of praise for the Italian throughout their rivalry.
With no fresh quotes ahead of their Melbourne showdown, Djokovic will have to let his racquet do the talking.
