26 January 2024 , 07:27
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Novak Djokovic's hopes of winning his 11th Australian Open have come to a crashing end after losing his semi-final against Jannik Sinner on Friday.
The world No.1, who beat Dino Prizmic, Alexei Popyrin, Tomas Martin Etcheverry, Adrian Mannarino and Taylor Fritz en route to the last four, is now out of the tournament after a 6-1, 6-2, 6-7, 6-3 defeat by Sinner. It was a stunning performance from the Italian, who will now face Daniil Medvedev or Alexander Zverev in the final.
As for Djokovic, this is his first defeat in Melbourne for 33 matches, dating back to 2018 when he lost to Chung Hyeon in the fourth round. Having previously won the Australian Open six times, the Serbian romped to his seventh title in 2019 after beating Rafael Nadal 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 in the final.
Djokovic won the Australian Open in 2020 and 2021, before not competing at the 2022 tournament after disclosing he was not vaccinated against Covid-19. He was unable to participate after his visa was cancelled twice by Australian Immigration Minister Alex Hawke, with Nadal going on to win in Melbourne.
However, Djokovic returned to the Australian Open for 2023 and continued his winning streak, easing past Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final. And the 10-time Melbourne champion was looking on course to claim yet another Grand Slam title after dropping just three sets on his way to the semi-final.
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But Sinner, who overcame Alex Di Minaur and Andrey Rublev among others in his path, stopped Djokovic in his tracks. After winning the first set 6-1 in blistering fashion, Sinner continued to dominate the match and romped to the second set 6-2, needing one more to reach his first Australian Open final.
Novak Djokovic has crashed out of the Australian Open (Getty Images)Djokovic responded to take the third set 7-6, but Sinner claimed the fourth 6-3 to set up a mouth-watering final on Sunday against the winner of Medvedev or Zverev. Speaking after the match, Sinner, who was listed as the fourth seed ahead of the tournament, said: "It was very, very tough.
"I felt like he wasn't feeling that great so I kept pushing. I just tried to be ready for the fourth set, which I started off really, really well. I learned a lot from that defeat at Wimbledon and it is all part of the process."
"I don't know what to say," Sinner added. "The confidence from the end of last season has, for sure, kept the belief I can play against the best players in the world and I'm really happy I can play in my first final."