In what could be a thrilling semifinal clash, 10-time champion Novak Djokovic \u2013 who is still striving for one last day of glory \u2013 will take on two-time defending champion Jannik Sinner with the Italian aiming to make it a hat-trick of titles at Melbourne Park. As always, we here at LWOT will be our offering predictions for the match, but who will come out on top at the Australian Open?<\/p>\n
Ateet: Novak Djokovic got another huge slice of luck as Lorenzo Musetti was forced to retire, leading two sets to love in their quarterfinal match. Djokovic looked flat out there and was making a lot of unforced errors. I expect him to be better against Jannik Sinner, but even then, Sinner\u2019s level is much higher, and Djokovic will find it hard to get cheap points.<\/p>\n
Prediction: Sinner in 3<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Nurein: Djokovic remains upbeat that he can win this tennis match despite his losing record against Jannik Sinner. This has probably the ideal path for Djokovic heading into the semifinal, benefitting from a walkover and a retirement victory. He\u2019s had extra rest and less physical strain. That said, the matchup favours the seemingly irresistible defending champion who is the better baseline player right now and Djokovic acknowledged he\u2019s facing one of the best in the sport. It would take a minor miracle for the Serbian to defy the odds.<\/p>\n Prediction: Sinner in 4<\/em><\/p>\n Cizu: It’s been an interesting few days for Djokovic. First, Jakub Mensik pulls out before their fourth round match, then Lorenzo Musetti was forced to retire in a match he looked nailed on to win. It’s safe to say then, Djokovic arrives at this semifinal without having had to do a lot. Sinner, however, has faced some spirited attempts in his last few matches, but has still brushed all opposition aside.<\/p>\n How much luck Djokovic still has left is anyone’s guess, but surely this feels like the end for him. Sinner has won their last five official matches, mostly quite easily as well. This matchup probably only serves to highlight a moment of changing of the guard at the Australian Open.\u00a0 I find it hard to see how Djokovic wins a set, let alone the match.<\/p>\n Prediction: Sinner in 3<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Jordan: Djokovic has never been such a significant underdog for a Grand Slam semifinal. Lorenzo Musetti almost certainly would have beaten him in the quarterfinal had he not sustained an injury and Djokovic last defeated Sinner over two years ago. The Italian has won their last five meetings and, and he and Carlos Alcaraz are a cut above everyone else. I cannot see Djokovic prevailing unless Sinner suffers the same fate as Musetti.<\/p>\n Prediction: Sinner in 3<\/em><\/p>\n Jim: How much does Djokovic have left in the tank? Not just for this fortnight, but what is left of his career? The fire seems to have all but gone out and even the embers are barely still smouldering. He has played some good tennis this fortnight, but not nearly enough of it to suggest he can beat Sinner. No player can get the better of Father Time and not many of them can live with Sinner either. This will probably be comfortable for the Italian, but possibly a sad day for the wider sport after all that Djokovic has given. Because the answer to my first question seems to be not very much.<\/p>\n Prediction: Sinner in 3<\/em><\/p>\n Main photo credit: Mike Frey-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In what could be a thrilling semifinal clash, 10-time champion Novak Djokovic \u2013 who is still striving for one last day of glory \u2013 will take on two-time defending champion Jannik Sinner with the Italian aiming to make it a hat-trick of titles at Melbourne Park. As always, we here at LWOT will be our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2815,"featured_media":96556,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[2570,2363,5862,41852,22,4546,2373,2369],"class_list":["post-96934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-predictions","tag-australian-open-picks","tag-australian-open-predictions","tag-jannik-sinner","tag-jannik-sinner-prediction","tag-novak-djokovic","tag-novak-djokovic-prediction","tag-tennis-picks","tag-tennis-predictions"],"modified_by":"Jim Smith","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2815"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96934"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96934\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96946,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96934\/revisions\/96946"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}