Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner will be squaring off for the third time in 11 days when they meet again in the Davis Cup semifinals on Saturday.
Serbia and Italy won their respective quarterfinal ties against Great Britain and the Netherlands on Thursday, thus setting up this marquee matchup. As the top-ranked players on their teams, it will be Djokovic vs. Sinner in one of the singles rubbers. Based on the quarterfinal lineups, the other singles match is projected to be Miomir Kecmanovic vs. Matteo Arnaldi.
Djokovic and Sinner just faced each other twice at the Nitto ATP Finals and they split those two encounters. The 22-year-old Italian treated the home crowd in Turin to an epic 7-5, 6-7(5), 7-6(2) upset during round-robin action, but the 36-year-old Serb exacted revenge with a 6-3, 6-3 triumph in the championship match.
Overall the head-to-head series stands at 4-1 in Djokovic’s favor, which includes victories at Wimbledon in each of the past two seasons.
A second win over Djokovic is by no means out of the question for Sinner. The world No. 4 is an incredible 62-15 this year, announcing himself as a likely Grand Slam champion sooner rather than later. Despite the disappointment of losing the Turin final last Sunday, Sinner got right back in gear to beat Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor 7-6(3), 6-1 on Thursday before teaming up with Lorenzo Sonego to win the decisive doubles rubber.
Djokovic is also showing no signs of slowing down on the heels of his Nitto ATP Finals exploits. The world No. 1 cruised past British left-hander Cameron Norrie 6-4, 6-4 in the Davis Cup quarterfinals. Djokovic dropped only eight service points in the entire match and did not get pushed to deuce a single time.
The 24-time major champion is now in the midst of 21-match Davis Cup singles winning streak. He has not lost a rubber since 2011, and that was via retirement against Argentina’s Juan Martin Del Potro. Djokovic has not lost a completed singles match in this competition since 2009, when he fell to both David Ferrer and Rafael Nadal during Spain’s 4-1 victory over Serbia in the World Group first round.
Not unlike at the Nitto ATP Finals, this is a situation in which it almost impossible to pick against Djokovic.
Pick: Djokovic in 2
who ya got?
What a match…..Incredible!!!!!