After suffering a shocking semi-final loss to fourth-seeded Italian Jannik Sinner, Novak Djokovic was harshly critical of his play: “I was, in a way, shocked with my level, in a bad way.” I suppose this is among my least enjoyable Grand Slam encounters to date. At least what I can recall.
After playing “one of the worst” Grand Slam matches and unexpectedly losing to Jannik Sinner in the Australian Open semifinal, Novak Djokovic said he was “shocked” by his own level.
An imprecise In the first two sets, Djokovic only managed three wins, and even though he saved a match point in the tie-break in the third set, Sinner’s historic 6-1 6-2 6-7 (6-8) 6-3 victory prevented the ten-time champion from mounting a stunning comeback.
Djokovic, who hadn’t dropped a match here since Hyeon Chung’s fourth-round loss in 2018 because to elbow issues, has to take some time to recover.
Given Djokovic’s track record in this tournament—this is the first time he has ever lost after advancing into the quarterfinals—the outcome was undoubtedly shocking, but what was most unexpected about the Serb’s performance was how many unforced errors he committed (54), and how little break points he managed to produce.
Djokovic said, “I want to congratulate Sinner for playing a wonderful match and great tournament so far. “He’s in the finals rightfully. He totally outperformed me today.
To be honest, I was a little taken aback at my level. In the first two sets, I wasn’t doing too well at all.
“At least from what I can recall, this was one of the worst Grand Slam matches I’ve ever played.
Despite putting on his greatest show against Adrian Mannarino for the loss of three games in the fourth round, Djokovic struggled with illness at the beginning of the fortnight and had a harder time getting to the final four than normal. He lost three sets along the road.
The world number one said, “I haven’t really played close to my best throughout the entire tournament.” “The match versus Mannarino was fantastic, but I wasn’t performing at my usual level in the majority of the matches here in Australia.
Thus, it did take me by surprise in a way because I had assumed that the first two sets wouldn’t be that difficult. On the other hand, I didn’t feel completely like myself when I was playing in this tournament.
“One can say that the semi-finals is a great result but I always expect the highest of myself, and it wasn’t meant to be today.”
