It Doesn’t Mean It’s the Beginning of the End

By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Friday January 26, 2024

For the first time in his career Novak Djokovic tasted defeat in an Australian Open semifinal, the tournament where he had won all ten of his semifinals (and all ten of his finals) prior to Friday’s night’s clash with 22-year-old Italian Jannik Sinner.

It was bound to happen sometime, but after the 6-1, 6-2, 6-7(6), 6-3 defeat, Djokovic was still reeling from how soundly he was defeated, and how – in his own mind – poorly he had played.

“I was, in a way, shocked with my level, in a bad way,” Djokovic said. “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.

“Not a very pleasant feeling playing this way. But at the same time, you know, credit to him for doing everything better than me, you know, in every aspect of the game.

Djokovic was out of sorts in the opening two sets, really just a shell of himself, but he summoned his fighting spirit and managed some brilliant tennis in the third set, saving a match point and winning the set in a dramatic tiebreak. In the fourth, Djokovic was good, but not good enough, and he told reporters in his post-match press conference that his play was inexcusable.

“I tried, I fought,” the 10-time champion said. “I managed to kind of raise the level a little bit in the third, saved a match point, played a good tiebreak. But again, you know, the fourth set, very bad game to lose, 40-Love up at 1-2, and kind of against the wind a little bit.

“Yeah, just overall the performance-wise level of my tennis was, really not great.”

Djokovic wasn’t his usual steamrolling self this year in Australia, but most believed that he’d rise to the occasion and find his most inspired tennis, like he has done time and time again in Melbourne.

Strangely, it just never happened.

“To be honest, you know, the whole tournament I haven’t really played close to my best,” he said. “Match maybe against Mannarino (round of 16) 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.”

Djokovic did have praise for Sinner, and admitted that the Italian’s pinpoint…