analysis
Jannik Sinner has at the latest Australian Open showed that he is one of the world’s top tennis players. A Grand Slam-Victory is within reach.
There is hardly anything more reliable in the world than a metronome. Without making any mistakes, the device gives the musicians a beat that they can follow. It fulfills this task flawlessly. It’s all the more surprising when something goes wrong. That was exactly the case on Friday (January 26th, 2024), on this sunny, if not hot, afternoon in Melbourne. Because then the metronome of tennis, Novak Djokovic, gave up the ghost unannounced.
The failure of the tennis metronome
The Serbian, who excels in sports, has not only always been there when it comes to big victories in recent years. On the court, too, Djokovic managed like no other player before to minimize mistakes, force his opponent to play one more ball, hide his own doubts and mercilessly expose those of his opponents.
But it all ended in the semi-finals Australian Open, the tournament that Djokovic had won ten times so far. After a little more than three hours, the run for title number eleven was over. Djokovic lost to Jannik Sinner in four sets and had no chance for large parts of the match.
Djokovic without a breakball for the first time
Even a good hour after the match, Djokovic was still at a loss, sitting in the press conference in his supplier’s purple jacket, repeatedly raising his shoulders and talking about himself being one of the worst Grand Slam matches his career. A statement that was supported by what happened on the pitch. At the end of the second set, barely more than 70 minutes had passed and 88 points had been played, there were 29 unforced errors on the Serb’s side. A number that Djokovic has, especially in big ones Matchesusually only at the end of a long game of four or five sets.
But Sinner took the game out of Djokovic’s hands. Especially on his own serve, Sinner didn’t allow anything and thus conceded as the game progressed Matches one almost historic Djokovic statistic after another. So far, Djokovic had not only won 10 titles in 10 finals in Melbourne. The world number one had never lost a semi-final here either.
Djokovic’s last defeat in Melbourne was 2,195 days ago; he last lost to South Korean Hyeon Chung on January 22, 2018. To date, Djokovic has not had one in his almost 19-year career Grand Slam match given in which he had not earned at least one break point. All of that came to an end with the defeat against Sinner.
Djokovic wants to go back to Melbourne
Accordingly, Djokovic was upset about his own performance in the press conference: “I was shocked at my game. I didn’t do much right in the first two sentences.” The now 36-year-old is aware of his advanced tennis age: “Melbourne is a special city for me. I hope I have another chance to come back and take the emotions with me.”
While Djokovic is slowly approaching the end of his career, Sinner could only be starting now. The fourth in the world rankings came to first with self-confidence Grand Slam of the year traveled. He had won two of the last three meetings against Djokovic last fall and performed accordingly: “I tried to stay relaxed, my Match plan to follow closely. That worked very well today.”
Sinner the new pacesetter?
The South Tyrolean is not a born charismatic. On the pitch, Sinner is very sober, apart from the fist that he now clenches after every point he wins. His celebration after the win against Djokovic was also muted, especially considering the importance of this victory. “I don’t think you can control these emotions. It means a lot to me to have beaten Novak, but on the other hand the tournament isn’t over yet,” Sinner looked back on the biggest victory of his career and barely made a face in the press conference.
Reaching the final is the current highlight of a career that has virtually no setbacks, and in which Sinner has, for years, almost mantra-like placed the learning process above individual victories and defeats. Certainly, some bitter defeats Grand Slams He had to accept that, especially in 2023, when he was with the French Open completely surprisingly Daniel Altmaier was inferior and in the brutal sultry of new Yorkwhere he lost out to Alexander Zverev US Open pulled.
But Sinner has also established himself at the top of the world rankings in the last twelve months. The calmness of his mind can now also be found in his confident playing. So Sinner is preparing to celebrate his debut title on Sunday at one of the four tournament highlights of the tennis year. If everything goes as planned, he could soon become the new pacesetter in men’s tennis. Although perhaps one of the quieter kinds.