Jannik Sinner is proving to be the biggest nemesis for Novak Djokovic in men’s singles tennis at the moment. The Italian beat the World No.1 in a thrilling Davis Cup 2023 semifinal encounter, 6-2, 2-6, 7-5. The win also meant that it ended Djokovic’s stunning 21-match winning streak in men’s singles matches in the tournament. The Serb’s last loss prior to this one was in 2011 against US Open 2009 champion, Juan Martin del Potro.
If the last 2 years are taken into account, many fans believed that Carlos Alcaraz would be the man to give Novak Djokovic nightmares following his US Open 2022, Wimbledon 2023 and other big ATP title wins. However, he seems to have fallen off the radar after beating Djokovic in their epic Wimbledon final clash. Carlos Alcaraz was responsible for breaking Novak Djokovic’s 34-match winning streak in Wimbledon matches alone since 2018 as well as his winning streak of 27 Grand Slam matches which began from the Wimbledon 2022 Championships.
But the Spaniard has lost to Djokovic twice ever since, although his defeat in the Cincinnati 2023 final was extremely narrow. He had no answers to the 24-time Grand Slam champion’s magical display in the Nitto ATP Finals 2023 semifinals recently, as Djokovic easily won 6-3, 6-2.
And yet despite having never won a Grand Slam till date, Jannik Sinner has had a breakthrough 2023 season which could end in style on Sunday by powering Italy to a Davis Cup win for the first time in 47 years. And the 22-year-old will remember this season more now for not only defeating someone like Novak Djokovic twice, but like Alcaraz, also ending two of the legend’s outstanding winning streaks.
In their ATP Finals 2023 round-robin match, Jannik Sinner delighted his home fans in Turin by overpowering Novak Djokovic in a 3-setter. That ended a 19-match winning streak of Djokovic’s, which began after that Wimbledon final loss. Until that point, the Serb had bounced back in stunning fashion to win in Cincinnati, the US Open 2023 and the Paris Masters 2023 too, which are all big-ticket tournaments.
Novak Djokovic, like he so often has done in his career, again rebounded like none other to beat Jannik Sinner in the ATP Finals final match. But the World No.4 proved on Saturday that he is cut from a different cloth especially for someone his age and inexperience. Sinner managed to overcome his demons and Djokovic’s momentum-cum-big match mentality to beat him in a knockout semifinal match of a prestigious competition.
Djokovic once again showed resilience by winning the second match, but Sinner incredibly saved three match points courtesy his big serve and deep baseline play. No other player in the last 20 years has ended a massive Novak Djokovic winning streak twice in the same calendar year. With 2024 approaching, the Italian is set to be the Serb’s Enemy No.1 and perhaps his biggest challenger at the Australian Open too.
Why Roger Federer would be proud of Jannik Sinner
While Jannik Sinner has in a way achieved what Carlos Alcaraz did earlier this year, it is something which Roger Federer did achieve at his peak, but that too in a 4-year span.
Roger Federer first broke Novak Djokovic’s memorable 43-match winning streak back in the 2010-11 season by defeating the Serb in the French Open 2011 semifinals. The Swiss maestro could only follow that up in 2015 by ending Djokovic’s 28 match-winning run on Chinese soil. That was also in a semifinal match, at the Shanghai Masters that year.
Many fans compare Jannik Sinner to Roger Federer for his grace and effortless style of play and it is likely that the Italian could follow his footsteps by winning his first Grand Slam at nearly the same age. The 20-time Grand Slam champion won his first at Wimbledon 2003, just few weeks before turning 22.
