Novak Djokovic failed on Friday to reach the Wimbledon final for the seventh time in a row. The Serbian was defeated by Jannik Sinner: 6-3, 6-3, and 6-4.
The 38-year-old Djokovic was a shadow of himself throughout the match, which lasted less than two hours. Only in the third set did the 24-time Grand Slam winner take a break lead, but he couldn’t hold on to it. Sinner seized the opportunity on the fourth match point.
As a result, the Italian will play Carlos Alcaraz in the final on Sunday, who was too strong for American Taylor Fritz earlier in the day in four sets. That final is a repeat of the spectacular final at Roland Garros last month, in which Alcaraz narrowly defeated the world number one.
Djokovic was struggling with physical problems, as he had already announced. In his quarterfinal match against Flavio Cobolli, he slid in a split. “My body is no longer the same as before. Hopefully, I will be fit enough to play in two days,” he said at the time.
Djokovic had recovered sufficiently to take action, but he was far from pain-free. He had his physiotherapist treat him a few times during the match, but he was unable to fix the injury of the world number six.
Sinner reaches Wimbledon final for the first time in his career
Djokovic thus missed another chance to win his 25th Grand Slam title. He would become the sole record holder with that. Now he still shares 24 titles with Australian Margaret Court.
Sinner had suffered an elbow injury in the eighth finals against Grigor Dimitrov. He was still bothered by this in the quarterfinals, but against Djokovic it seemed to be much better. Sinner controlled almost the entire match and convincingly reached the final at Wimbledon for the first time in his career.
In the women’s competition, the final on Saturday is between American Amanda Anisimova and Polish Iga Swiatek. For Anisimova, it is the first time that she has been in the final of a Grand Slam tournament. Five-time Grand Slam winner Swiatek is in the Wimbledon final for the first time.