The brilliance of Jannik Sinner has been on full display at the 2024 Australian Open. The 22-year-old Italian is into the semifinals without dropping a set. He squares off against the King of Melbourne, Novak Djokovic, with a spot in the final on the line. The Italian will be looking to defeat the Serbian for the third time in the last two months and compete for his first Grand Slam title.
Sinner vs Djokovic history
Sinner’s start to the 2024 season has been superb, reaching the semifinals of the Australian Open for the first time. The Italian has been steadily improving on the tour and made the ATP Finals last season, where he lost to Djokovic in the final match of the event after besting the Serb just a few days earlier in the Round-Robin stage.
Sinner then headed to the Davis Cup to compete for his country. In the semifinal, Italy squared off against Serbia. Once again, Sinner was pitted against Djokovic. The 22-year-old achieved a very rare feat. He defeated Djokovic not once, but twice in the same day. The Serb had even been match-point up in their singles bout before Sinner rallied back to defeat Djokovic in three sets. The doubles followed, and Sinner was part of the duo that defeated the Serbian pair in straight sets.
The Italian has been on the rise and is certainly heading up the rankings. Some may even say he is on course to claim his first Grand Slam title. It will be a tough ask, as Djokovic holds ten Australian Open titles. However, Sinner knows he can defeat Djokovic on the big stage and will certainly be relishing the challenge.
Sinner’s Australian Open title chances
As mentioned, Djokovic enjoys playing in Australia and holds a record of ten trophies from the event. That said, he and Sinner’s paths to this point have been quite different.
Sinner has not dropped a set in five matches at the 2024 Australian Open. Djokovic has had three matches where he needed four sets to claim victory, spending over three hours on-court in all of those battles.
Although Sinner defeated Djokovic in their last meeting, Grand Slam matches are a completely different animal. The Italian and Serb met at the semifinal stage of Wimbledon last year. Djokovic prevailed in straight sets on the grass. However, since then, Sinner has really come through the ranks and currently holds a career-high live ranking of world No. 4.
Sinner is destined to win a Grand Slam soon. He is supremely talented, and with other Next-Gen stars such as Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune, he will be around the game for a while. Alcaraz has already secured two Grand Slam titles at the tender age of 20. Can the Italian get on the board this week in Melbourne? Check out our match preview and prediction roundtable here.
Main Photo Credit: Mike Frey – USA TODAY Sports
