Jannik Sinner grew beyond himself. © APA/afp / LLUIS GENE
Anyone who thought that the ATP Finals in Turin were the last highlight of an already memorable season for Jannik Sinner was mistaken: the man from Sexten won an incredible match against Novak Djokovic at the Davis Cup on Saturday and kept Italy alive.
25. November 2023
Sinner and Djokovic met for the third time in 11 days on Saturday. The last time that happened was in 2004, when former number 1 Andy Roddick beat the German Nicolas Kiefer – also within 11 days – in Indianapolis, Toronto and Cincinnati. Be that as it may: The South Tyrolean went into the match on Saturday with a lot of pressure because Lorenzo Musetti had previously lost and a Sinner defeat would have meant the end of the Davis Cup. Unimpressed by this, the 22-year-old played carefree, showed one of his best performances of the season and brought the “Djoker” to their knees with 6:2, 2:6 and 7:5.
An incredible statistic first: Djokovic lost his last singles match at Davis in the distant year 2011. Since then, the Serb has won 20 games in a row, dropping just four sets. This afternoon, however, the 36-year-old seemed inhibited at the beginning. He repeatedly missed simple balls into the net, never went on the offensive and had to struggle with the first serve rate. Sinner, on the other hand, presented a completely different face than in the final of the ATP Finals: The man from Sexten moved as light as a feather, hit incredibly hard on both sides and left the world number 1. no time to breathe. Sinner quickly grabbed two breaks, which he defended without any problems. After 37 minutes he ended the first set in which he scored 12 and Djokovic only scored one winning stroke.
Strong reaction
Everyone was aware that the tennis legend would raise his level – including Sinner. Djokovic began to serve much better in the second set and suddenly stopped making any mistakes. The Sesto native felt the pressure of the now more emotional Serb, who broke thanks to a double fault and moved ahead to 4-1. Even more: When the score was 5:2, Djokovic took the serve from his 14-year-younger opponent again, forcing a deciding set.
While the Serb was extremely solid on his own serve and won many direct points with his service, Sinner was repeatedly caught up in long, exhausting rallies in his own games. This was also the case at the beginning of the third set: in a game that lasted around fifteen minutes, in which both showed their best tennis, Djokovic fought for a break chance – but without converting it.
Now the best phase of the match began. Sinner had to fight a lot more with his own serve, but with incredible courage and dedication he stood up to the now outstanding Djokovic – even when he earned three match points at 4:5. The South Tyrolean fended off all of them with nerves like steel cables before breaking a few minutes later thanks to a passed ball. After that he wouldn’t let the butter be taken off his bread. Now the doubles decide who will advance to the final against Australia.
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2023-11-25 16:51:21
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