Novak Djokovic (Serbia), world number one in men’s tennis, looks serious during the semi-final of the Australian Open on the 26th. He lost to world number 4 Jannik Sinner (Italy), marking the first time he had lost at the Australian Open in 2,195 days after losing to Chung Hyeon of South Korea in the round of 16 of the tournament in 2018. “It was one of ‘the worst performances in a major tournament that I can remember,’ said Djokovic. /AFP Yonhap News
I lost after 2195 days. In the Australian Open tennis men’s singles semi-finals on the 26th, Novak Djokovic (37, Serbia, world no. 1) bowed out to rookie Jannik Sinner (23, Italy, No. 4). Set score 3-1 (6-1 6-2 6-7<6-8> 6-3), sinner’s victory. As a result, Djokovic once again wrote the word ‘defeat’ on his Australian Open report card after about six years after losing 0-3 to Chung Hyun (28) from Korea in the round of 16 on January 22, 2018. The record is not this includes the 2022 competition, where he was absent due to his refusal to receive the coronavirus vaccine.
Sinner defeated Djokovic after a match that lasted 3 hours and 22 minutes. Sinner, who led the stroke battle from the first set and went up 3-0, overwhelmed Djokovic with a strong serve that exceeded 211 km per hour. Djokovic made a lot of mistakes with Sinner’s extremely penetrating serves and shots. During the game, he shook his head several times as if he was not satisfied with himself. On this day, Sinner played a draw in terms of service aces (9-7) and number of attack successes (31-32), as well as double faults (1-4) and errors (28-54) where failing to serving twice in a row showing stable play that reduced Djokovic showed his potential by winning the third set after a tie break, but that was all. “It was a tough game, but we didn’t give up and kept pushing,” Sinner said.
Djokovic’s unbeaten run at the Australian Open ended at ’33’ on this day. The 11th Australian Open is also expected next year. The hunt for the 25th title in the four major tournaments (Australia, France, US Open and Wimbledon) was postponed until the next tournament, the French Open (May).
Sinner has met Djokovic four times recently and won three times. Their previous record is 3 wins and 4 losses. There is a tendency to establish himself as Djokovic’s ‘natural enemy’. With this victory, Sinner was one game away from winning his first major championship. The previous best performance was the semi-final (2023 Wimbledon). At this time, he lost to Djokovic 0-3. At this year’s Australian Open, they won all five matches from the first round to the quarter-finals 3-0.
Sinner will face Daniil Medvedev (28, Russia, 3rd place) in the finals (28th) for the trophy. Medvedev defeated Alexander Zverev (27, Germany, 6th) 3-2 (5-7 3-6 7-6) after a fierce battle for 4 hours and 18 minutes in the semi-final on the other side of the bracket.<7-4> 7-6<7-5> 6-3) A tremendous comeback victory was achieved. Even when he dropped the 1st and 2nd sets, the Australian Open live streaming site predicted that Medvedev would likely win at 4%. Medvedev previously came back with a similar victory in the second round. Medvedev is determined to assuage the upset of only finishing second at the Australian Open in 2021 and 2022.
The women’s singles final was limited to a match between Arina Sabalenka (26, Belarus, 2nd) and Chung Chin-win (22, China, 15th place). It opens on the 27th.
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