Shellshocked Novak Djokovic admitted: “This is one of the worst Grand Slam matches I’ve ever played” after his surprise Australian Open semi-final defeat to Jannik Sinner. The world No.1 had been undefeated in 33 matches and six years at his favourite Grand Slam.
The Italian world No.4 played superbly to win 6-1 6-2 6-7 6-3 to reach his first Major final. But this was not the same Djokovic who has won a male record 10 titles here as he failed to earn a break point and committed 54 unforced errors.
In his post-match press conference, the Serbian superstar said: “First I want to congratulate Sinner for playing a great match, great tournament so far. He’s deservedly in the finals. He outplayed me completely today.
“I was, in a way, shocked with my level, in a bad way. There was not much I was doing right in the first two sets. I guess this is one of the worst Grand Slam matches I’ve ever played. At least that I remember.
“Yeah, not a very pleasant feeling playing this way. But at the same time, credit to him for doing everything better than me in every aspect of the game.
“To be honest, the whole tournament I haven’t really played close to my best. Match maybe against Adrian Mannarino was great, but most of the matches I was not playing up to par, so to say, the way I play here in Australia normally.
“So in a way it did surprise me, because I thought it won’t be that bad in the first two sets. But on the other hand, I didn’t feel really myself on the court during this tournament. One can say semifinals is a great result, of course, but I always expect the highest of myself, and it wasn’t meant to be today.”
Asked to reflect on his long period of domination Down Under, Djokovic said: “I’m kind of hot-headed right now. After the match it’s very difficult to reflect on things in a more profound way. Maybe tomorrow, maybe in a few days’ time, but I definitely have a lot to be very proud of in terms of what I have achieved here.
“The streak was going to end, you know, one day. It was going to happen, and, at least I gave everything I possibly can under circumstances where I didn’t play well, and I lost to, you know, a player that has a very good chance to win his first slam. That’s all it is.
“But yeah, this has been a very special city, best, by far, Grand Slam of my career. Yeah, I just hope that I’ll get a chance to come back to play at least another time and go through the emotions once more.”
Djokovic will be 37 when he makes his next bid to win a record 25th Grand Slam singles title at the French Open. After losing the Wimbledon final to Carlos Alcaraz, the 10-time champion here was asked if he finally felt his age. “Let’s see,” he smiled. “Don’t know. I still have high hopes, you know, for other slams, Olympics, and whatever tournaments that I’ll play. It’s just the beginning of the season.
“It’s not the feeling that I’m used to. I mean, it kind of has been incredibly satisfying for me, you know, to start off most of my seasons with a Grand Slam win and I had never lost in the semis or finals of the Australian Open.
“So this time it’s a bit different, but it is what it is. Let’s see. I don’t know. This tournament hasn’t been, as I said, up to my standard or criteria or the level that I would normally play or expect myself to play, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s the beginning of the end as some people like to call it. Let’s see what happens in the rest of the season.”
