There is sparkling electricity in Melbourne, for the highly anticipated semifinal of the Australian Open 2024 between Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner. Nole chases history as Alice would with the White Rabbit, Jannik wants to take the definitive step and reach his first Slam final.
Boris Becker, Djokovic’s former coach, analyzed the semi-final of the top-half of the main draw, during an exclusive interview given to the Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport. The German legend praised Jannik, saying how he can now dream big. At the same time, Becker underlined that the winner of the match will be the one who has the most desire to win.
“Now Jannik Sinner has a complete package. The position on the court is almost always perfect, the serve is more varied. I don’t see any more weaknesses in his game. There are matches that tennis lovers wait to see and this is certainly the case. It’s becoming a real challenge, a super rivalry.
Whoever wants it the most will win. It will be a high-speed chess match. There will be very long exchanges, of course. It could be very intense and whoever is able to make good use of the recovery will also win. Nole is very good at this, Jannik is still an unknown from this point of view. He can now dream, with joy,” explained Becker.
Novak Djokovic, Australian Open 2024© Julian Finney / Staff – Getty Images Sport
The two will give life to the seventh match of their rivalry on Rod Laver Arena, which will however, in one way or another, make history. The Serbian champion is ahead 4-2 in head-to-head matches, but the Italian has won two of the last three matches.
The first in the Round Robin match at the Nitto ATP Finals and the second in the Davis Cup. On this last occasion, Sinner completed an incredible comeback and canceled out three consecutive match points from Djokovic, putting Italy back in the running. However, it was the Belgrade native who won the only two previous matches at Slam level: both played at Wimbledon.
Meanwhile, Filippo Volandri, the captain of the Italian Davis Cup team, talked about the highly anticipated match again with Gazzetta dello Sport, warning Sinner of the dangers that hide in the folds of the match.
“It would be wonderful to win, but there is still something to do. First of all, the next obstacle, certainly not just any one. I’m sure that in any case it will be impossible to get bored in this match. In the last matches, Djokovic and Sinner studied each other, got to know each other better and prepared moves and countermoves that will only be revealed on the court. This is why I expect a perfect Nole with very clear ideas on how to stop Sinner, it will be a furious Djokovic.
In Malaga Sinner beat him twice, first in singles and then in doubles, he will be a wounded beast after those matches but at the same time he will find a young champion who is growing match after match and who always has confidence in his own abilities. The surface is different from Malaga, Jannik loves indoors while he has some problems with the wind. Things that don’t concern Nole, who has the right experience to play these matches,” explained Volandri.
Finally, the Italian expressed about the physical conditions: “We could write a treatise on Nole’s athletic ability, Sinner instead is transforming now. In any case it will be a hard fought challenge.”
And about the match, Paolo Bertolucci argued about the Melbourne schedule
The former Italian tennis player Paolo Bertolucci has joined the chorus of controversy surrounding the Australian Open schedule, which has left many stars having to remain on the court to finish their matches until the middle of the night.
The former Italian tennis player absolutely did not agree with the organizers’ choices on the scheduling of the matches on Tuesday, highlighting how the double of the legends made the first of the four matches scheduled on the Rod Laver Arena start too late.
“They manage the absurd feat of having a Slam quarter-final start at 11pm. But not even the crazy scheduling stopped Jannik Sinner’s run towards his first semi-final at the Australian Open,” he explained.
Novak Djokovic & Jannik Sinner, ATP Finals 2023© Valerio Pennicino / Stringer – Getty Images Sport
In view of the super challenge with Novak Djokovic, He analyzed what could put Sinner in difficulty. “The only question mark concerns his endurance, that is, whether he will be able to maintain all this and whether he will be able to manage as well as he has been doing for the last 6 months over long distances. It is a question of habit and that is developed on the court,” said Bertolucci.
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