Novak Djokovic was left reeling, his dreams of an 11th Australian Open title in tatters after suffering a 6-1, 6-2, 6-7 (6), 6-4 loss to a fired-up Jannik Sinner in their Friday semi-final.
The 36-year-old Serb will be on the first plane back to Europe after his disaster of a match in three hours, 20 minutes against the Italian firebrand who will play his first Grand Slam final on Sunday.
“I was, in a way, shocked with my level.. in a bad way,” the 36-year-old winner of 25 major titles said.
“There was not much I was doing right in the first two sets.
“This is one of the worst Grand Slam matches I’ve ever played. It’s not a very pleasant feeling playing this way. But at the same time, credit to him for doing
everything better than me, you know, in every aspect of the game.”
Djokovic failed to fire as he played a record 48th semi-final at a Slam; he had won 22 of his last 23 at the level in the majors prior to running into Sinner.
The world No. 4 Italian has now defeated Djokovic in three of their last four meetings dating back only two months to November.
“I tried, I fought. I managed to raise the level a little bit in the third, I saved a match point, played a good tiebreak,” the Serb said.
Overall, the performance-wise level of my tennis was really not great.
“In these moments you just try to find the serenity, but at the same time try to uplift yourself and your game.”
Despite a result which many would savour, it was a disappointment for Djokovic.
” I didn’t feel really myself on the court during this tournament. One can say semi-finals is a great result, of course, but I always expect the highest of myself, and it wasn’t meant to be today.”
