Sinner sends Djokovic packing with ruthless display to set up Alcaraz showdown
Top seed Jannik Sinner ensured Novak Djokovic will be absent from a Wimbledon men’s singles final for the first time in eight years after handing the Serbian great a brutal Centre Court battering on Friday.
Italian Sinner lost both his previous Wimbledon duels with Djokovic but turned the tables in emphatic fashion as his power and precision proved too much for the seven-time champion who, at 38, looked every bit his age in a humbling 6-3 6-3 6-4 loss.
In his first Wimbledon final, the 23-year-old Sinner will face Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz in a tantalising re-match of their recent French Open humdinger which the Italian lost after battling for more than five hours, squandering three championship points.
Alcaraz stayed on course for a Wimbledon three-peat with a 6-4 5-7 6-3 7-6(6) defeat of Taylor Fritz.
“I don’t know what to expect, you saw the last final and you never know,” Sinner, just the third Italian to reach a Wimbledon singles final and hoping to become his country’s first champion at the grasscourt slam,” said on court.
“It’s a huge honour to share the court with Carlos, we try to push ourselves to the limit. I love watching him. Hopefully it will be a good match like the last one, I don’t know about better, I don’t think that’s possible.”
Djokovic, who arrived in London bidding to equal Roger Federer’s men’s record eight Wimbledon titles and claim an unprecedented 25th major trophy, had not lost an All England Club semi-final since the Swiss got the better of him in 2012.
But his 52nd Grand Slam semi-final proved a bridge too far as Sinner repeated his victory at the same stage of Roland Garros to confirm that a new order has now firmly established itself at the top of men’s tennis.
Djokovic has often looked superhuman on Wimbledon’s most historic stage, but on Friday Father Time chased him down as he looked defenceless against a sublime Sinner who dropped only six points on serve in the first two sets.
He briefly stemmed the tide in the third set to move 3-0 ahead but it proved an illusion as Sinner, bidding to add the Wimbledon title to his two Australian and one U.S. Open crowns, nipped any hope of a famous comeback in the bud.
STRUGGLE PHYSICALLY
Djokovic appeared to struggle physically in the closing stages after needing treatment and Sinner wasted no time in putting the old warrior out of his misery in less than two hours to complete his set of Grand Slam finals.
Sinner joined in the applause as Djokovic left Centre Court, giving a thumbs up to a cheering crowd who may have thought they had witnessed his last Wimbledon hurrah.
Djokovic, who has reached the semi-finals of every Grand Slam this year — retiring against Alexander Zverev in Australia and losing to Sinner in Paris and now here — later said he plans to be back, but admitted the wear and tear of battling the new generation takes its toll.
“When I’m fresh and fit I can still play really good tennis but playing best of five, particularly this year, has been a struggle physically,” he told reporters.
“The longer it goes, the worse the condition gets. I reached the semis of every slam this year but had to play these guys who are fit and young and I feel like I go into the matches with the tank half empty.
“It’s just one of those things I need to embrace and deal with the reality.”
The day’s second semi-final had been given top billing but it proved an anti-climax for the fans, many of whom chanted “Nole Nole” as the match sped away from Djokovic.
Sinner’s net-skimming, line-hugging ground strokes — the sort that come straight from the Djokovic textbook — were suffocating on a boiling Centre Court, while his serving was untouchable. With 41 minutes on the clock, Sinner was a set and a break ahead and in complete control.
Djokovic, who slipped on match point of his quarter-final win against Flavio Cobolli and missed his training session on Thursday, required treatment at the end of the second set.
Just for a while it seemed Sinner’s fire had been doused as he lost concentration, but this time there was to be no Djokovic fightback as his resistance faded quickly.
Alcaraz faced a more troublesome afternoon taming the big-serving Fritz in fierce heat and had to save two set points in the fourth-set tiebreaker to avoid being dragged into a decider.
Looking ahead to the final, he said: “Just going to be a great day, a great final. I’m just excited about it.”