Novak Djokovic told to stop making ‘mistake’ before Jannik Sinner Wimbledon semi-final

Richie Mills 08 Jul 2026 5:23 PM

Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic shake hands at Wimbledon

Novak Djokovic has been told to curb his on-court behaviour ahead of his Wimbledon semi-final with Jannik Sinner.

The 39-year-old overcame a calf problem and a much more youthful Felix Auger-Aliassime to win an epic quarter-final 7-6 (12-10) 3-6 6-3 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (10-4) in five hours and 15 minutes on Tuesday.

The Serbian showed remarkable steeliness and endurance to oust the 25-year-old on Centre Court, to set up a mouth-watering clash with world No 1 Sinner on Friday.

The veteran will need every second of that time to recover for that encounter but ahead of their 12th meeting, tennis content creator Gill Gross believes Djokovic needs to cut one element out of his game.

At various moments in the match, the 24-time major winner threw his arms in the air to bemoan the fact that Auger-Aliassime repeatedly hit the lines with his serves and in rallies.

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Commentator Gross feels that the third seed was able to feed of this “frustration” and that this was a bad move mentally for Djokovic.

While Djokovic beat Sinner in five sets at the Australian Open earlier this year, the 24-year-old did win their previous five matches, including at last year’s Wimbledon. And before they lock horns, Gross suggested he would do well to not repeat this next time out.

He said on his YouTube channel, “Small critique for Novak. He was showing so much frustration whenever Felix hit lines in the fourth set and early in the fifth. I just think you are telling your opponent that you are feeling the pressure of their quality.

“I don’t think that’s a good move mentally for Novak, especially against a guy like Felix, who at that point of time really needed a confidence booster.

“It is one thing if I shank it and it hits the line. At that point, I know I got lucky, everybody knows I got lucky, but if Felix is painting the service line on an ace up the T, that’s not luck, that’s skill.

“And when Novak is like, ‘Oh my god, I can’t believe this is happening’, I am just loving that if I am Felix. And I thought that was a mistake for Djokovic.”

Conversely, Gross added that he loved how Djokovic used the Wimbledon crowd to his advantage to give him “extra energy” in the fifth set.