Against some long odds, another one A Grand Slam semifinal between Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic is on the cards for Friday night at the Australian Open.
Sinner appeared to be on the verge of retirement in his third round match against Eliot Spizzirri before receiving divine intervention to close the roof. Djokovic suffered a walkover in the fourth round from Jakub Mensik and was on his way out of Melbourne in the quarterfinals before Lorenzo Musetti retired with a groin injury while leading from two sets to love.
The final result was the 11th meeting between Sinner and Djokovic – and their fifth in a major semifinal. Sinner leads the overall head-to-head series by a slim 6-4 margin, but has won six of the last seven games and five in a row. They met twice last season, when Italy went 6-4, 7-5, 7-6 (3) at Roland Garros and 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 at Wimbledon.
Even in a tournament he has won 10 times, it is difficult – almost impossible, in fact – to see Djokovic turning the tables. The 38-year-old played well enough against Pedro Martinez, Francesco Maestrelli, and Botic van de Zandschulp, but he was outclassed by Musetti on Wednesday. A foot blister does nothing for Djokovic.
Now the 24-time slam champion has to fight an even tougher opponent – and that’s an understatement – in Sinner. Despite being saved by the heat rule while pushing Spizzirri, the world number 2 has been flat-footed so far in Melbourne. His other results were all straight-setters (against Hugo Gaston, James Duckworth, Luciano Darderi, and Ben Shelton). Sinner is on a 19-match winning streak at Melbourne Park and is 38-3 in his last 41 sets dating back to the 2024 final against Daniil Medvedev.
Anything close to a superior version of Sinner has been and will continue to be very good for Djokovic. Unless there are voodoo spells cast on all the Serb opponents over these two days, this should be a blowout of incredible proportions – even by recent Sinner vs. Djokovic.
Choose: Sinner in 3
