As 38-year-old Novak Djokovic turned back the clock on Friday night inside Rod Laver Arena, Jannik Sinner couldn’t outrun it.
The 10-time champion outlasted defending two-time champion Sinner on a day of epic men’s semifinals, notching a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 triumph to join six-time Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz in the final.
“I’m at a loss for words right now,” an emotional Djokovic told the crowd as they chanted, “Nole! Nole!”
Earlier on Friday, in a five-hour, 27-minute instant classic, Alcaraz fought through cramps and Alexander Zverev to improve to 15-1 in five-setters and reach his first Australian Open final.
It didn’t take Djokovic as long (four hours and nine minutes, to be exact), but he had to walk the tightrope just like Alcaraz as he eventually snapped Sinner’s 18-match Australian Open winning streak and kept the Italian winless in matches that stretched over three hours and 50 minutes.
The 24-time major champion, who had not won a set in all four of his major semifinals last year, once again showed why he can never be counted out. When the inspiration hits, he still packs a punch that even the likes of Sinner and Alcaraz struggle to handle.
“It feels surreal, to be honest,” Djokovic said. “Playing over four hours and it’s two AM—reminiscing about 2012 when I played Rafa in the finals, it was almost six hours. The level of intensity and the quality of tennis was extremely high, and I knew that was the only way for me to have a chance today against him.
“He won the last five matches against me. He had my mobile number, so I had to change my number for tonight.”
Djokovic, the third-oldest Grand Slam finalist in history, will attempt to become the oldest men’s singles Grand Slam champion on Sunday against Alcaraz. He has won five of nine matches against Alcaraz, but lost their last contest in straight sets in last year’s US Open final.
Sinner and Alcaraz split the opening two sets, with Sinner making a statement of intent with a break in Djokovic’s first service game of the night and winning his last 11 points on serve from the moment he faced a break point at 3-1, 30-40.
Djokovic hit back in the second, converting his third break point for 3-1 and spectacularly saving four break points across his next two service games before leveling the match.
After struggling through the third, and looking physically fatigued while doing so, Djokovic found new life down the stretch. With the packed house inside Rod Laver Arena egging him on, he was a new man in the fourth.
His forehand, particularly potent in this match, was back and firing. So was the serve; and the footwork—better than we’ve seen it all tournament—helped him stay on the front foot.
The pair hit 33 combined winners in an engaging fourth set, with Djokovic striking the early blow for a break and hanging on for dear life to maintain it as he closed out the set. To do so, he had to save a pair of break points in the eighth game before battling through a 15-ball deuce rally to earn his first set point.
He made it count, nailing a service winner to force a fifth set, with the match clock just barely over three hours.
What would the 38-year-old legend have left in a fifth set? He entered with 40 five-set wins (37-10 at the majors) under his belt. Meanwhile, Sinner had a 6-10 five-set record, and the Italian had never won a match that had gone beyond three hours and 50 minutes. ESPN provided that statistic to its viewers after the first game of the final set, a Sinner hold, with 3:15 on the clock.
Sinner applied pressure early, but Djokovic held firm, saving a pair of break points to hold for one-all. He went to the well again in the next game, blasting back-to-back winners to save two break points, but Sinner earned a third.
The Italian had connected on just two of his 14 break points in the match at that juncture, and his luck didn’t change as he missed a second-serve return by five feet wide: make it two for 15.
Moments later, a booming forehand forced the error from Sinner and brought the crowd to its feet, 2-2.
Djokovic drew first blood in the seventh game and then produced his most epic hold of the evening, rallying from 0-40 down to stretch his streak to 10 consecutive break points saved. After saving the trio, he made the sign of the cross as he went to his towel and raised his eyes to the heavens, as if to say, “keep ’em coming.”
“This is Houdini in this fifth set from Novak,” said James Blake, reporting the match courtside for ESPN.
Sinner forced Djokovic to serve it out, and he took the final game to deuce by saving two match points, but in the end, this was Djokovic’s night. He put the match to rest—and added another chapter to his already unfathomable Grand Slam legacy—on his third match point, dropping to his knees and kissing the court when his work was done.
“I told him at the net, ‘thanks for allowing me at least one over these last couple of years,’” Djokovic said. “I have incredible respect for him; he’s an incredible player and he pushes you to the limit, which is what he did tonight with me.”
Asked on court about his comments in recent years regarding the dominance of Sinner and Alcaraz, Jim Courier asked Djokovic to admit that he was wrong to say that he had very little chance against the formidable duo in best-of-five-set tennis.
“I wasn’t wrong,” Djokovic said. “I said it would be difficult, not impossible.”
The next challenge for Djokovic will be to recover from a physical battle in time to face Alcaraz in Sunday’s final. The Serbian extended his record of Grand Slam finals reached to 38, seven more than any other man. To win a record 25th major, Djokovic will have to pull another rabbit out of the hat.
Djokovic said he saw Alcaraz after the first semifinal and Alcaraz apologized to him for delaying his semifinal with Sinner.
“I told him I’m an old man, I need to go to sleep earlier,” he said, adding: “I’m looking forward to seeing him in a few days.
“I just hope that I’ll have enough gas to stay toe-to-toe with him. That’s my desire, and let the Gods decide the winner.”
