Jannik Sinner shares thoughts on Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz epic and issues ‘best rivalry’ verdict

Ewan West
Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner
Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner

Jannik Sinner has revealed he watched the Australian Open quarter-final between Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz until the end as he described the match as “amazing.”

The world No 1 proclaimed that the 37-year-old Serbian and the 21-year-old Spaniard currently share “the best rivalry” in tennis.

Djokovic produced an outstanding display to down Alcaraz by a scoreline of 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 in a captivating quarter-final on Rod Laver Arena lasting three hours and 37 minutes.

It was the latest thrilling installment in the incredible inter-generational rivalry, with Djokovic extending his lead in the head-to-head to 5-3.

The pair’s previous epic matches include Alcaraz’s three-set win at the 2022 Madrid Open (their first meeting) and his five-set triumph in the 2023 Wimbledon final, while Djokovic prevailed in thrilling finals at the 2023 Cincinnati Masters and the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The Grand Slam head-to-head between Djokovic and Alcaraz is tied at 2-2, while the Serbian now holds a 3-0 edge in hard-court matches.

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Djokovic, who is aiming to win a 25th Grand Slam title, will play world No 2 Alexander Zverev in the Australian Open semi-finals on Friday. The world No 7 is a 10-time Australian Open winner.

Sinner is vying to secure his third consecutive hard-court major crown having won both the Australian Open and the US Open in 2024.

Following his 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 quarter-final hammering of world No 8 Alex de Minaur, Sinner gave his verdict on the Djokovic-Alcaraz showdown.

“Yes, I watched until the end because I knew that I can sleep long (laughs),” Sinner told Jim Courier in his on-court interview.

“It was an amazing match. This kind of matchups are tough to see, you know in quarter-finals. This could be, you know, finals, semi-finals.

“So you know, I think we all want these kind of rivalries. Obviously, I think Carlos and Novak, this is at the moment the best rivalry we have in tennis. This was an amazing matchup, some amazing rallies and this is exactly why we also need an amazing crowd making everything special.

“So let’s see what’s coming in this season, new players are coming, young players are coming, so hopefully there are gonna come some great rivalries.”

The 23-year-old Italian will take on 22-year-old American Ben Shelton, the 21st seed, in the last four at Melbourne Park.

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