Novak Djokovic has conducted about as many press conferences in his career as any other tennis player in history. He knows the deal: after a victory, particularly a big one, he will usually be asked by a journalist to preview his next match. He is always ready with a long, expansive response summarising his opponent and his anticipation for the next encounter. He has mastered the art of doing so while keeping his cards close to his chest and not giving away a single important detail.
And so, as the clock ticked into the early hours of Wednesday morning in the aftermath of Djokovic’s breathless, impossible-to-believe five-hour, 15-minute marathon win over Felix Auger-Aliassime, a 25-year-old man, his next response was telling. Asked how he might physically recover and what the future might hold in his match against Jannik Sinner, for once he had nothing to say: “Let’s see. Let’s see. I have an extra day, which is good …
Future will tell.”
There are so many themes to discuss in a match of such magnitude between two greats, but for now there is really only one important topic. So much of how this match plays out relies on how Djokovic’s 39-year-old body recovers physically from his previous encounter and the significant load it has been under since the start of the tournament. It has been clear for a long time that Djokovic is still striking the ball at an incredibly high level, he is still moving better than many opponents 20 years his junior and he has lost none of the mental toughness that has defined his career. But at his age, with so much mileage in his legs, the one thing he cannot control is how his body recovers from the immense physical load of grand slam tennis.
Djokovic has now reached the semi-finals or better in six of his past seven grand slams, a remarkable feat at his age, but by the end of each of those tournaments his ageing body was clearly worn down by the physical challenge of working through a fortnight of best-of-five-set matches. Last year, the outcome of Djokovic’s three meetings with Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz in grand slam semi-finals seemed inevitable. He lost all six sets to Sinner at the French Open and Wimbledon.
At the beginning of this year, he broke his run of defeats to Sinner in spectacular fashion, toppling the Italian after four hours in five sets with a monumental performance to reach the Australian Open final. Djokovic has won more big matches and titles than any player in history, but that victory over Sinner is one of the most incredible feats in his career. It is also the last time that the two players met.
Ahead of this tournament, the outlook for Djokovic was simple. He is still more than capable of winning Wimbledon, but he needs to be efficient and conserve as much energy as possible. Even before the match against Auger-Aliassime, he had failed to do so. His easy second-round win over Stefanos Tsitsipas has so far been his only straight-sets one of the tournament. One hopeful feature of the Auger-Aliassime match, however, is that he looked strong physically until the end. For once he did not seem to have any obvious physical discomfort.
If Djokovic is healthy, this will be a very tight match. He has always been the first person to note the similarities between himself and Sinner. They share the same desperation to hug the baseline and take the ball early, timing the ball crisply and effortlessly changing directions off both wings. They are two immense returners who have also become elite servers, and they both rely on their flexibility and sliding open stance on all surfaces to maintain their court positioning. The main differences between them are that while Sinner naturally generates greater pace with his groundstrokes, Djokovic is faster and more resourceful with greater variation.
It took an incredible serving performance from Djokovic to topple Sinner in Australia, his forehand was utterly monstrous, snatching the initiative in the key points, and his performance on the key points was scarcely believable. He saved 16 of 18 break points in the match. It will take a similar performance for Djokovic to triumph over Sinner again, but the Serb has spent a lifetime willing himself to perform at such heights.
All eyes will be on Djokovic and his physical condition in the early stages of this match, but Sinner himself has some questions to answer. The world No 1 is such a resilient character, and it comes as no surprise that, after his horrific physical collapse to Juan Manuel Cerúndolo in the second round of the French Open, where he was so heavily favoured to win the title, he has bounced back with five wins. Sinner started this tournament, his first and only grass court event of the year, with an erratic five-set win over Miomir Kecmanovic, but since then he has not dropped a set in four rounds. Sinner is serving better than ever, and after recording his career best ace count – 31 – against Kecmanovic, he has continued to serve excellently throughout the tournament.
However, his forehand has looked more erratic than usual and it is just difficult to tell exactly where his level and head is. Sinner has not faced a seeded player all tournament and few of his opponents had any chance of pushing him. The sight of the greatest player of all time staring him down across the net on Friday, however, will reveal plenty about his level and readiness for a potential second Wimbledon title.
