Djokovic, who broke his 33-game winning streak at the Australian Open, calls it “the worst performance in a major tournament”
gostopsite
Sinner, who reached the final, led Italy to its first Davis Cup victory in 47 years last year.
After ending his 33-game winning streak at the Australian Open tennis tournament, Novak Djokovic (No. 1, Serbia) said, “It was the worst match I have ever played in a major tournament as far as I can remember.”
Djokovic lost to Jannik Sinner (4th place, Italy) 1-3 (1-6 2-6 7-6<8-6> 3-6) in the men's singles semifinals held in Melbourne, Australia on the 26th.
Djokovic, who did not have a single break point throughout the match, lost 0-3 (6-7 <4-7> 5-7 6-7 <3-7>) against Hyeon Jeong in the round of 16 in 2018, and has been playing for 6 years. As of 2,195 days ago, he lost at the Australian Open.
Djokovic's 33 consecutive wins remains the record for the longest winning streak in singles at the Australian Open, along with Monica Seles (1999).
Djokovic won the tournament three times in a row from 2019 to 2021, and in 2022, he was absent due to issues with the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) vaccination, but regained the throne last year.
He said in a post-match interview, "Sinner deserves to be in the finals because she completely dominated today's match," and "I did very little right, especially in the first and second sets."
Djokovic swallowed his disappointment and said, “It was one of the worst matches in a major tournament that I remember.”
He had a similar number of successful attacks on this day (32-31) as Sinner, but made nearly twice as many errors (54-28).
If Djokovic had won this tournament, he could have set a new record in this category by increasing the number of singles wins in major tournaments to 25.
Besides Djokovic, Margaret Court (retired, Australia) holds the record for women's singles title with 24 wins.
For Djokovic, who was born in 1987 and is 36 years old, this tournament was the best opportunity to achieve 25 major wins.
This is because he showed a particularly strong side by winning the Australian Open alone 10 times out of 24 major wins.
The ‘king of tennis’ Roger Federer (retired, Switzerland), who was born in 1981 and is 6 years older than Djokovic, won the last major championship at the 2018 Australian Open, 6 years ago.
For Djokovic, there is a high possibility that this year will be his last chance to ascend to the major throne.
Djokovic (right) hugging Sinner after the match
In particular, the progress of next-generation players such as Sinner (born in 2001), who completely defeated Djokovic on this day, as well as Carlos Alcaras (2nd, Spain) and Holger Rune (8th, Denmark), born in 2003, is bound to be a burden on Djokovic.
Daniil Medvedev (3rd place, Russia), Alexander Zverev (6th place, Germany), and Stefanos Tsitsipas (7th place, Greece), who are of the generation older than Alcaras and Sinner, are also players who can challenge for the top of the majors at any time. admit.
Sinner is the champion of the 2019 Men's Professional Tennis (ATP) Next Generation Finals, which invites top ranked players under the age of 21.
The Next Generation Finals, founded in 2017, is a competition where players such as Hyeon Chung, Tsitsipas, Sinner, and Alcaras have emerged as promising players by winning.
Sinner, who was eliminated by Djokovic in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon in 2022 and the semifinals of 2023, finally got over Djokovic's wall in their third match at a major tournament.
Although he has a slim body with a height of 188cm and a weight of 76kg, his strengths include the ability to cover the court with a strong lower body and heavy strokes due to his experience as a skier in his youth.
Sinner was the main player who led Italy to its first victory in 47 years in the Davis Cup, a national competition last year. 고스톱