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A master at work on Centre Court, Novak Djokovic dismissed the big-hitting threat of Jannik Sinner on Friday to reach his fifth consecutive Wimbledon championship match. The Serbian delivered a typically classy all-around semi-final performance to prevail 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(4) against the Italian and notch his 34th straight match win at the grass-court major.
The second-seeded Djokovic’s clean, deep returning was a constant menace to the Sinner serve and he was rock-solid under pressure as he saved all six break points he faced in his two-hour, 46-minute triumph. By reaching his 35th championship match at a Grand Slam event, Djokovic claimed sole ownership of the record for reaching the most major finals, ahead of former WTA star Chris Evert (34).
“In the semi-finals, it was always going to be a very tense, very close match,” said Djokovic in his on-court interview. “Three very close sets, I think the scoreline maybe doesn’t give the reality of what was happening on the court. It was super close.
“The third set could have gone his way. He had 5-4, 15/40 and a couple of second serves. He missed a few shots and allowed me to get into the tie-break. It was just a lot of pressure in the third, especially. I had chances early on, but he proved why he is one of the leaders of the next generation and one of the best players in the world that we have, no doubt. It’s great to be part of this new generation. I love it.”
3️⃣5️⃣ Grand Slam finals!@DjokerNole gets past Sinner in straight sets to reach his 5️⃣th consecutive Wimbledon final! pic.twitter.com/XxYEs6Vaht
— ATP Tour (@atptour) July 14, 2023
The victory was in stark contrast to Djokovic’s Wimbledon quarter-final battle against Sinner from a year ago. On that occasion, the Serbian was forced to rally from two sets down for a famous victory in London, but a similarly epic encounter never looked likely this time around as Djokovic’s grass-court nous shone through at key moments against his 21-year-old opponent.
Djokovic will face Carlos Alcaraz or Daniil Medvedev in Sunday’s final at SW19, where he bids to tie Roger Federer’s record by lifting an eighth Wimbledon crown as well as to join the Swiss great and Bjorn Borg as the only players to win five consecutive men’s singles titles. Should Alcaraz be his opponent, it would also represent a straight one-on-one shootout for the No. 1 spot in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.
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The 36-year-old Djokovic has now won 27 consecutive matches at major tournaments and remains on course for a historic calendar-year Grand Slam after his triumphs at the Australian Open and Roland Garros earlier in the year. He is just the third player in the Open Era (since 1968) to reach the Wimbledon men’s singles final aged 36 or older, after his great rival Federer and Ken Rosewall.
“I’d like to believe that [I am playing some of my best tennis ever],” said Djokovic. “We play an individual sport, so you have to rely on yourself and try to put yourself in the best possible state, physically, mentally and emotionally, before going out on the court.
“I try not to look at age as a hindrance or a factor that might decide the outcome on the court. To the contrary, actually, I feel 36 is the new 26, I guess. It feels good.”
Djokovic’s dominance came after Sinner had made a promising start on Centre Court. The Italian carved out two break points with some powerful ballstriking in the opening game but his inability to take either of those opportunities proved immediately costly as Djokovic converted his only break point of the set in the next game.
Djokovic continued to expertly redirect his opponent’s groundstrokes to close out the opener and the second set followed a similar pattern. His consistency ramped up the pressure on Sinner, who played an error-strewn game to lose serve at 1-1. Not even a hindrance call against Djokovic for an extended grunt at 15/15 in the next game could derail his charge to the second set as he offered Sinner few opportunities to step in and take control of rallies.
Sinner was in danger of fading completely in his third Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting with Djokovic, but three big serves helped him escape 0/40 to hold in the third game of the third set and the Italian continued to club the ball ferociously to keep Djokovic on his toes. He was again unable to capitalise on two set points on Djokovic’s serve at 5-4, 15/40, however. The second seed held firm before reeling off six of the final seven points in the subsequent tie-break to complete his win.
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