‘He’s not playing against Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer – but Novak Djokovic is better than ever’

Ewan West 15 Jul 2023 11:12 AM

Novak Djokovic shouts in celebration after beating Andrey Rublev

Tennis legend Mats Wilander believes Novak Djokovic is a “better player now than ever” ahead of his Wimbledon final showdown with Carlos Alcaraz on Sunday.

The Swede declared that, while the Serb is not competing against Rafael Nadal or Roger Federer, he has adapted to deal with the greater power of young players like Jannik Sinner.

Djokovic downed world No 8 Sinner 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(4) in the semi-finals of the 2023 Wimbledon Championships on Friday. The 36-year-old will face world No 1 Carlos Alcaraz in Sunday’s men’s singles final in his ninth title match at the All England Club.

The world No 2 is looking to win a 24th Grand Slam title, as well as an eighth Wimbledon crown to equal Federer’s men’s record.

Seven-time major winner Wilander compared Djokovic’s performance against Sinner to his French Open semi-final victory over Alcaraz last month.

“I rate this performance in a similar fashion [to when] he did what he did against Carlos Alcaraz in the French Open [semi-finals],” said the former world No 1 in an interview with Eurosport.

“I think he has realised, and he’s played enough tough matches like the one last year here against Sinner, that these guys are good, they hit the ball really hard – harder than Rafa [Nadal], Roger [Federer] and Andy [Murray] did, much harder.

“They take it early and I think he’s realised that a human being cannot withstand that all the time. I feel like he goes a little bit more aggressively from the beginning and puts Sinner on his heels. It’s tough for Sinner to get any grip with his footing once he’s defending.

“I think for Novak it’s all by design. Is he a better player now than ever? I would have to say that he is. It’s not Nadal and Federer he’s playing against, but the game’s moved in that direction and I think he’s better.”

Former British No 1 Laura Robson was also impressed with the great Serb’s convincing victory over the 21-year-old Italian.

“We kept talking about what Sinner was going to do differently this year, but we didn’t think so much about what Djokovic would do differently in this particular match-up,” said Robson.

“He was just dealing with the pace of Sinner so easily. He said in the on-court interview that the match could’ve gone either way – I didn’t feel that way! I don’t think Mats did either – both of us thought it was very straightforward for Novak and it still feels like he has another gear or two to work with if need be.

“Sinner will be thinking he could’ve got off to a better start and things could’ve been different, but ultimately he was just outplayed today.”