Jannik Sinner just recently won the first Grand Slam title of his career and the campaign was such a record-breaking one that fans continue to be obsessed with the Italian youngster. One such record was inadvertently a huge tribute to two of the Big Three legends – Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. This happened after his semi-final win over Novak Djokovic.
It was no easy task beating Novak Djokovic 6-1, 6-2, 6-7 (6-8), 6-3 in his fortress in Melbourne for Jannik Sinner to advance to the finals. By doing so, Sinner became only the third player in tennis history to beat Djokovic in a Grand Slam semi-final and then go on to win the tournament. The only two other players to have done this are Djokovic’s Big Three counterparts.
Roger Federer did it twice at the 2008 US Open and at the 2012 Wimbledon. Rafael Nadal one-upped him by doing it thrice at the 2007, 2008, and 2013 editions of the French Open. Djokovic has, in total, lost only 12 out of 48 times he made it to the Grand Slam semi-finals. That’s a staggeringly impressive record of a 75% win rate. Therefore, it makes Sinner’s win extra special, also considering that he did it at 22 years of age.
Prior to the Australian Open semi-final, Sinner also became only the third player in history to beat Djokovic twice in a span of 2 weeks, which was at the ATP Finals 2023 and the Davis Cup 2023 semifinals. Nadal and Andy Murray have done it before him.
The other players who have beaten Djokovic in the semi-final of a Grand Slam are Tomas Berdych at 2010 Wimbledon, Kei Nishikori at the 2014 US Open and Dominic Thiem at the 2019 French Open. Unfortunately, they didn’t go on to win that tournament.
The rarity of the achievement is further symbolized by the fact that Djokovic had never lost an Australian Open title after reaching the semi-finals. That was until the 2024 edition.
Jannik Sinner grew up idolizing Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal
Jannik Sinner comes from the Innichen municipality of the South Tyrol region of Italy. So naturally for him, Italian player Andreas Seppi has been an idol growing up. As he started taking tennis more seriously, Nadal and Federer have also been his huge idols in life. He touched upon in a recent AO press interview that he feels privileged to have learned from Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer and their gameplay.
He was also fortunate to have met Nadal in person and learn from him. The two even played against each other at the 2021 French Open where the youngster lost to Nadal 7-5, 6-3, 6-0. The two have a lot in common. They are both also brand ambassadors of Nike and Sinner replaced Nadal to be the ATP Fans’ Favorite Player in 2023.
