Jannik Sinner says that this loss against Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals of the Australian Open \u2018hurts a lot\u2019 and that he \u2018wasn\u2019t surprised\u2019 at the result.<\/p>\n
Heading into the encounter, the Italian had won his last five matches against the Serb, including collecting 10 consecutive sets.<\/p>\n
However, it was Djokovic who battled back to be victorious 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in a four-hour Melbourne night session.<\/p>\n
The 24-time Grand Slam champion ended Sinner\u2019s<\/a> hopes of winning the title for a third year in a row and broke the world No 2\u2019s 20-match winning streak.<\/p>\n \u201c[It hurts] a lot,\u201d admitted the world No 2 during his post-match press conference.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a very important Slam for me, knowing also the background, it can happen.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a good match from both of us. I had many chances, couldn\u2019t use them, and that\u2019s the outcome. It hurts for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n One of the stats which Sinner may most regret is his inability to utilise his break points, with Djokovic saving 16 out of the 18 that he faced.<\/p>\n \u201cI had my chances in the fifth set. Many break points, I couldn\u2019t use them,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n \u201cHe came up with some great shots.<\/p>\n \u201cI decided a couple of different things. Today they didn\u2019t work, but that\u2019s how tennis is.<\/p>\n \u201cI felt like also the first set was a great level from both of us. It was a bit [like] a roller coaster, and it happened like it happened today.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMost of the time, he served very well, I was in the rallies a couple of times, I missed the shots, and it can happen.\u201d<\/p>\n For Djokovic, Sunday will mark his first Grand Slam final since Wimbledon in 2024 and a prime opportunity to claim a 25th<\/sup> Grand Slam title.<\/p>\n If he were successful in doing so, he would become the first player \u2013 male of female \u2013 to win 25 Grand Slams.<\/p>\n Additionally, he would overtake Ken Rosewall as the oldest player to win a singles Grand Slam.<\/p>\n Novak Djokovic \u2018lost for words\u2019 after rolling back the years to end Jannik Sinner\u2019s title defence<\/a><\/p>\n Carlos Alcaraz fires back at Alexander Zverev\u2019s \u2018bulls***\u2019 criticism after being accused of being \u2018protected\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n Given the recent head-to-head and taking into account the Serb\u2019s age, many had written off Djokovic\u2019s chances of claiming a last-four victory.<\/p>\n However, Sinner \u2013 on the other hand \u2013 was \u2018not surprised\u2019 and will take the loss as a \u2018lesson.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s won 24 Grand Slams,\u201d the world No 2 remarked during his post-match press conference.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know each other very well, how we play. I\u2019m not surprised because I feel like he\u2019s been the greatest player for many, many years.<\/p>\n \u201cOf course, he\u2019s playing less tournaments because of his age and everything, but we also know how important Grand Slams are for me, for him, for Carlos [Alcaraz], and everyone.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is this small, extra motivation, and he played great tennis.<\/p>\n \u201cHopefully, I can take it as a lesson to see what I can improve on.\u201d<\/p>\n Djokovic will now take on world No 1 Carlos Alcaraz in the final, with the Spaniard looking to become the youngest male singles player to win all four Grand Slams.<\/p>\n Alcaraz prevailed in a five-set thriller against third seed Alexander Zverev, who had held the chance to serve out the match in the decider.<\/p>\n Sinner and the Spaniard contested the last three Grand Slam finals and had collected the trophy at all of the last eight such events.<\/p>\n Want more from Tennis365? Add us as\u00a0<\/span>a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>for tennis coverage you can trust.<\/strong><\/p>\n The post Jannik Sinner not \u2018surprised\u2019 by Novak Djokovic upset, but admits it \u2018hurts a lot\u2019<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jannik Sinner says that this loss against Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals of the Australian Open \u2018hurts a lot\u2019 and that he \u2018wasn\u2019t surprised\u2019 at the result. Heading into the encounter, the Italian had won his last five matches against the Serb, including collecting 10 consecutive sets. However, it was Djokovic who battled back to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1689"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1689\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Australian Open News<\/h2>\n