’Beginning of the end’: Wild history in Djokovic AO boilover

Novak Djokovic has defied his age to rack up grand slam titles with relative ease in recent times but it all has to come to an end some time.

An unfamiliar scenario for Novak. Photo by Saeed KHAN / AFP

Novak Djokovic has admitted he’s not sure if his shock Australian Open semi-final loss is a sign his age is finally catching up with him.

The Serbian superstar’s astonishing 2195-day, 33-match streak at the Australian Open finally came to an end after 22-year-old Italian star Jannik Sinner pulled off a stunning 6-1 6-2 6-7 6-3 upset on Friday afternoon.

It was also the first time Djokovic had lost in the semi-finals or finals of an Australian Open.

Djokovic was chasing a record-extending 11th Australian Open title and 25th grand slam championship overall at the 2024 tournament but was made to look like he made so many other players look throughout his career by the man 14 years his junior.

For many years, the tennis world has been talking about the next generation players who are going to finally unseat the Big Three of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic and it finally may have happened.

The 2024 Australian Open final will be the first since 2005 without Federer, Nadal or Djokovic hasn’t played in the tournament decider. In that time, only Stan Wawrinka’s 2014 title was not won by one of the Big Three.

For Sinner, he’s now a win away from becoming Italy’s first Australian Open champion, fifth grand slam champion — second male after 1976 French Open champ Adriano Panatta — and first since Flavia Pennetta won the US Open in 2015.

Sure it took Federer’s retirement, Nadal’s injury-ravaged body and the world waiting for the seemingly immortal 36-year-old Djokovic to finally falter but it finally may have happened.

Speaking in his post-match press conference, Djokovic admitted that he’d been “completely outplayed” by Sinner, calling it “one of the worst Grand Slam matches I’ve ever played”.

Have the young guns finally caught up? Photo by Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / AFP

Korean Chung Hyeon had been the last man to beat the Serbian superstar at the Australian Open, producing a shock straights set win in the fourth round way, way back in 2018.

Since then, Djokovic has won 12 grand slam titles.

But so shocking was the way Djokovic lost, the question had to be asked — is the Serbian superstar’s age finally catching up with him?

“Let’s see,” Djokovic said. “I don’t know.

“I still have high hopes for other slams, Olympics, and whatever tournaments that I’ll play.

“It’s just the beginning of the season. It’s not the feeling that I’m used to.

“It has been incredibly satisfying for me to start off most of my seasons with a grand slam win and never lost in semis or finals of Australian Open.

“So this time it’s a bit different, but it is what it is. Let’s see. I don’t know.

“This tournament hasn’t been up to my standard or criteria or the level that I would normally play or expect myself to play, but doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s beginning of the end, as some people like to call it.

“Let’s see what happens in the rest of the season.”

Shock scenes on Rod Laver Arena. Photo by Martin KEEP / AFP

While most of the stats were surprisingly close considering the four-set win, two in particular stuck out.

Djokovic made 54 unforced errors to Sinner’s 28, while it was the first time in Djokovic’s grand slam career that he not only didn’t claim a break, but didn’t even earn a break point against the red hot Italian.

Sinner on the other hand had 11 break points, converting five in the dominant performance.

“Probably that stat says a lot,” Djokovic said.

“First of all, he was serving very accurately, he was backing his serve very well.

Yeah, myself, I just, yeah, I just — it’s hard to describe, you know, everything, I mean, we don’t have that much time.

“There’s a lot of negative things that I’ve done on the court today in terms of my game that I’m not really pleased with in return or movement or forehand, backhand.

“Everything, you know, was just subpar.

”So he was very dominant. Dominant on his service games. Obviously if you serve well and if you don’t face a breakpoint, it plays with the mind of your opponent, meaning you can put more pressure on his service games — my service games in this case — and you kind of swing freely.”

Originally published as ’Beginning of the end’: Wild history in Djokovic AO boilover