Carlos Alcaraz believes Jannik Sinner can be the man to take down Novak Djokovic at the Aus Open
The King of Melbourne Park hasn’t tasted much defeat in Australia, but defeated Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz thinks rising Italian star Jannik Sinner can bring down the greatest of all time.
It hasn’t happened in Australia since 2018, only happened once in 2023 and three times over the past 10 Grand Slam tournaments which Novak Djokovic has played.
But Carlos Alcaraz is predicting it could happen over the next three days.
The world No. 2 is the man most qualified to talk on the subject of whether the greatest player of all time can be beaten.
Alcaraz inflicted Djokovic his only Grand Slam defeat last year when he toppled the Serbian in five sets in the Wimbledon final.
After being surprisingly dumped from the Australian Open in the quarter-finals by German Alexander Zverev, the Spaniard was predicting Djokovic’s semi-final opponent Jannik Sinner could be the man to take down the GOAT.
“I think the players that are in the semi-finals have the level to beat him, let’s see,” Alcaraz said.
“It’s not easy to beat Novak in a tournament and I think it’s even tougher in a Grand Slam. But he has to face Jannik Sinner, he’s playing an unbelievable game.
“He has not dropped a set in this tournament and that means that he has the level and the capacity to beat Novak.”
Adding to the intrigue of the Sinner match-up is the fact the 22-year-old Italian defeated Djokovic twice in the space of 12 days in November.
His first victory came in the round-robin phase of the ATP Finals in Turin where he took down the world No. 1 7-5 6-7 (5) 7-6 (2).
While Djokovic got his revenge in the final - winning 6-3 6-3 - Sinner turned the tables again the following week in a dramatic Davis Cup semi-final.
The young gun stunned the 24-time grand slam champion, 6-2 2-6 7-5 to push his country into the final which they went on to win against Australia.
Sinner was the hottest player in the world at the end of last year and his faultless Australian Open campaign has him primed to take on the biggest challenge in tennis.
“This is what I practice for, to play against the best players in the world,” Sinner said after defeating No. 5 seed Andrey Rublev in the quarter-finals.
“Obviously he has an incredible record here, so for me it’s a pleasure to play against him, especially in the final stages of the tournament where things are a little bit more interesting.
“I’m looking forward to it, to be honest. It’s gonna be tough. This, I know. I will control the controllable, which is giving 100 per cent, having the right attitude, fighting for every ball.”
While Djokovic has won all 10 semi-finals he’s contested at Melbourne Park and then all 10 finals, another of his rivals, No. 3 seed Daniil Medvedev, also believes Sinner is capable of breaking the streak.
“The thing is Jannik is playing so good now,” Medvedev, who plays Alexander Zverev in the other semi-final, said. “So if I’m 100 per cent honest with you, if you ask me who -- let’s say I’m in the final -- who do I want to play, Novak, who never lost here, whatever, is going for some crazy stats, or Jannik who is not losing a set even when he’s 5-1 down in the tie-break and stuff like this, I’m, like, I don’t know’.
“ I really don’t know. I want them to go 7 hours 30, tie-break 30-28 in the fifth, and then maybe let’s see if they are a little bit tired on Sunday.
“I think it’s going to be a great match. They had a great rivalry at the end of the season with Turin and the Davis Cup, so really, really going to enjoy it and let’s see who wins.”
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