Jannik Sinner came the closest to beating Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon last year, as the Italian led two sets to love in their quarterfinal clash before losing in five.
Now Sinner will get another shot at Djokovic on the lawns of London, this time in the semifinals.
The two competitors played their way into a rematch by earning four-set victories on Tuesday afternoon. Following Sinner’s 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 win over Roman Safiullin, Djokovic defeated Andrey Rublev, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-3.
“It’s going to be a completely different match than last year,” the 21-year-old commented. “He knows me better, as I know him better also. It’s going to be also a little bit tactical. In the other way, it is also a little bit mental. If you play against Novak, it’s always tough to play–especially in Grand Slams.
“But I will fight for every ball. I will enjoy the moment, but knowing that I [will try] to beat him. Now I have two days off. (I’ll be) trying to work on couple of things what I might use for the next match. Let’s see how it goes.”
Everything has been going well at Wimbledon for Djokovic. The 36-year-old Serb has won the tournament four times in a row and is now two victories from making it five straight after he came back from a set down to beat Rublev. Although Djokovic started slow, the outcome was never really in doubt and he mostly cruised over the course of two hours and 47 minutes.
Rublev is now the first man in Open Era history to lose the first eight Grand Slam quarterfinal matches of his career.
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who ya got?
Djokovic and Sinner are arguably the two best Grass Court Players left in the tournament. Sinner has power from both wings and could be the only player to take out Novak. If Sinner is going to play baseline tennis, he is playing right into Djokovic’s game. Sinner needs to take some play out of Rublev, the serve and volley play from Thompson, and the toughness from Wawrinka if he has a chance to pull off the upset.
I think Novak in 4 sounds about right BUT it’s going to be hard fought. Forget all of the stats, Novak has been tested the last two rounds that took 3 days to complete. I think the rest, the regular routine, and him smelling Number 24 make him a winner in a dog fight.
As much as I like Sinner, both as a player and as a person, his Wimbledon draw was a joke, so far he hasn’t faced single top 70 player. I agree though, Nole is beatable, that was visible in his last two matches, he also looked strangely flat and sort of without energy?