Novak Djokovic sticks it to ‘doubters’ and has a message for Carlos Alcaraz ahead of Australian Open final
Novak Djokovic has a message for those who have “retired me many times the last couple of years” after reaching his 11th Australian Open final, while he also told Carlos Alcaraz he should be fresher for their match.
With age no longer on his side, many questioned at the start of the tournament whether or not Djokovic had what it takes to make it to the latter stages of the hard-court Grand Slam.
But the 38-year-old finds himself one win away from becoming the oldest Grand Slam champion after coming through a titanic 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over two-time Melbourne Park defending champion Jannik Sinner with the four-hour and nine-minute match finishing 1:30 am local time.
“I never stopped believing in myself,” the tennis great said after his incredible win. “There’s a lot of people that doubt me. A lot of experts wanted to retire me or have retired me many times the last couple of years.
“I want to thank them all, because they gave me strength. They gave me motivation to prove them wrong, which I have tonight. For me, it’s not a surprise, to be honest.”
Djokovic has not reached a Grand Slam final since 2024 when he lost the Wimbledon final against Alcaraz in straight sets while his last title at a major was in 2023 when he beat Daniil Medvedev in three sets at the US Open final.
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Last year he lost in the semi-finals of all four big events while he won only two ATP 250 events, leading to suggestions that his retirement date could be around the corner.
But his performance against Sinner suggests he is not ready to quit just yet.
“I rate it as the best [win] of the last couple of years,” the 24-time major winner said. “For sure, one of the best performances in the last decade or so…
“I was lucky that obviously Lorenzo [Musetti] got hurt and retired that match. Two days later, obviously different opponent. I knew exactly what to expect and had great clarity and strategy and game plan and what needs to be executed.
“One thing is to imagine how you want to play, and the other thing is to deliver it and execute it on the court against Sinner, that we all know is playing an extremely high level.
“I’m just thrilled to be able to experience something like this tonight.”
Up next is Alcaraz in the showpiece match on Sunday and Djokovic leads their head-to-head rivalry 5-4 while he also beat the world No 1 in the quarter-final of the 2025 Australian Open. The Spaniard, though, won their semi-final at the US Open later in the year.
Although both came through five-setters with Alcaraz requiring five hours and 27 minutes to beat Alexander Zverev 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (3-7), 6-7 (4-7), 7-5, the Serbian feels the 22-year-old should be fresher for the final.
“History is on the line for both of us every time we play,” he said. “My preparation is as it should be, and I won against him last year here [in the quarter-finals], also in a gruelling match. Let’s see. Let’s see how fresh we both able to be.
“He also had a big match, but he has 15, 16 years on me. You know, biologically I think it’s going to be a bit easier for him to recover.
“I’m just trying to enjoy the moment that I’m experiencing tonight. I’ll think about finals later, but for me, this is win that almost equals winning a Grand Slam.”
