By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Tuesday, July 11, 2023
Wimbledon—No peaks protrude from No. 1 Court yet Jannik Sinner wore the satisfied smile of a man reaching higher ground.
Sinner repelled Roman Safiullin 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 to reach his first major semifinal at Wimbledon.
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The eighth-seeded Sinner joined prestigious company today as just the third Italian man in history to reach the Wimbledon semifinals, after Nicola Pietrangeli in 1960 and Matteo Berrettini, who bowed to Djokovic in the 2021 final.
The sound off Sinner’s racket is something to behold 💥#Wimbledon | @janniksin pic.twitter.com/5QR8bBCMp8
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 11, 2023
“It feels good. It means a lot to me,” Sinner said. “Obviously, as I said on court, there is a lot of work behind this. Very happy that I can play my first semifinal here in this special place, a special surface. So let’s see how it goes the next match.”
The 21-year-old Sinner is the youngest man to reach the Wimbledon semifinals since 2007 when a 20-year-old Novak Djokovic did it. Tomorrow, either world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz or Holger Rune, both 20 years old, will break Sinner’s mark.
Standing between Sinner and a maiden major final is seven-time champion Novak Djokovic.
Reigning champion Djokovic continued his mastery of Andrey Rublev 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 to advance to his 46th career Grand Slam semifinal matching rival Roger Federer’s all-time record.
The 23-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic rides a 33-match Wimbledon winning streak into this semifinal rematch with Sinner.
A year ago, Sinner built a two-set lead over Djokovic in the Wimbledon quarterfinals before the Serbian superstar subdued Sinner 5-7, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 to charge into his 11th Wimbledon semifinal.
It was Djokovic’s seventh career comeback from two sets down in a Grand Slam—and his edge in experience proved pivotal.
Contesting just the fifth five-setter of his young career last July, Sinner dropped serve early in the third, fourth and fifth sets and could not close the gap on the champion.
So what’s changed for the talented Italian in this semifinal rematch?
Asked how he’ll handle closing time this time, Sinner pointed out the obvious challenge: Building a two-set lead over Djokovic in the first place is no easy task.
“First of all, you have to go up two sets to love,” Sinner said with a smile. “In the other way, it’s going to be a completely different match than last year. He…
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