As 18 months have passed since Novak Djokovic last won a Grand Slam title, a plethora of cliches have been thrown at the 24-time Major winner. His latest Slam is his ‘last dance.’ His latest defeat is a ‘moment of reckoning,’ it is a signal of ‘father time’ catching up. His latest comeback is him ‘raging against the dying of the light.’
The hyperbole has always felt extreme, though, given that he has dealt with two tough injuries and still reached at least the semifinals at four of his last seven Majors. In between all that, he completed the sport by winning his first Olympic gold.
But as he was resoundly beaten 3-6, 3-6, 4-6 by World No. 1 Jannik Sinner on Friday – not outplayed as much as he was pumelled into submission – it felt hard not to place the collective weight of those cliches squarely on the Serb’s shoulders.
As the 38-year-old history-maker struggled so hard to keep up with the destructive shotmaking power of his opponent younger by 15 years – not up to the task tactically, and wilting physically – there were genuine questions to be asked whether he may be, for the first time in his career, facing too much of an uphill battle.
This was a far greater humiliation than the straight-sets defeat in the final to Carlos Alcaraz last year, for which the Serb was clearly not fully fit. And even more so than his straight-sets defeat to Sinner in their French Open semifinal last month, which was far more of an even contest.
For the opening two sets, Sinner was simply supreme here. By the time the suited, booted, dressed-up gentry of Wimbledon made their way to pack Centre Court fully on a sultry, sunny evening, Sinner had already won nine of the opening 12 games; a set and a break up with one foot in the final.
Djokovic looked physically compromised after taking a medical timeout and issuing a mini-recovery before Sinner simply went up another gear and won six of the next seven games to roll into the final. And there remains little else to analyse, with the final stages of this match, with Sinner merciless, and Djokovic hardly present, resembling a procession rather than a battle.
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With his remarkable victory, Sinner sent a bunch of records tumbling. He became only the second player, after Rafael Nadal in 2008-09, to win five consecutive matches against Djokovic, extending his head-to-head lead over the Serb to 6-4. He became the first player since Djokovic in 2015-16 to reach four consecutive Major finals, and just the fifth player since 1995 – after Nadal, Djokovic, Roger Federer, and Andy Murray – to have reached the final at each of the four Grand Slam tournaments. In Open Era men’s tennis history, he becomes the second-youngest to complete the feat, after Jim Courier.
These records will mean little to the Italian who will have revenge on his mind. On Sunday, he will play Carlos Alcaraz in a repeat of their epic French Open final from last month. “It’s a huge honor for me to share the court with Carlos. We try to push ourselves to the limits. He’s one of the players I look up to. I love watching him. I don’t know if it’ll be better than the last one, I don’t think it’s possible,” he chuckled. “We will try to do our best, hopefully it will be an enjoyable final for us to play and you guys to watch.”
It is the first time the Roland Garros final and Wimbledon final will be contested by the same players since the Federer-Nadal epic of 2008. It will be a clash between two titans of the present, who have now won each of the last seven Majors. Perhaps the way it will be from now on.
