Jannik Sinner reveals how Novak Djokovic shot himself in the foot with three-year-old advice in Australian Open loss

Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic after their Australian Open semi-final.

The crowd at the Rod Laver Arena were left stunned and so was Novak Djokovic, and Jannik Sinner stood the tallest as he handed the World No. 1 his first Australian Open defeat since 2018. The Italian reigned supreme as he cruised past the Serbian ace, 6-1 6-2 6-7(6) 6-3 in the semi-final.

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The victory also saw Sinner enter his first-ever Grand Slam final, where he will face the winner of the other semi-final between Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev.

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The 22-year-old broke Djokovic’s service twice in each of the first two sets, but also missed a match point in the third set, before holding on for a famous victory. The Serbian legend had won all ten semifinals and all 10 finals he had played previously at the Rod Laver Arena.

Speaking after the match, Sinner made a massive revelation during his on-court interview with Jim Courier. This was Sinner’s third win in his last four meetings with Djokovic, beating him at the Davis Cup and ATP Finals group stage in November last year. Courier asked him about his game plan against Djokovic, which helped him grab these wins. Sinner quipped, “Ask him.”

Then, Courier revealed that Djokovic was asked to give Sinner some advice a few years ago. “It’s funny that you say ask him because when you played him for the first time in Monte Carlo in 2021 your coach at the time did ask him. He went to him after the match and he said, Can you tell me a few things that maybe Jannik can work on to improve?”

“And Novak, because he’s a great sportsman, he did. He told your coach three or four different things. Do you remember what those things were at the time, did your coach even tell you? Because I’ve heard the story but I’ve not heard you talk about it,” he added.

Sinner stated that it was true, but also added that Djokovic had helped him earlier too. “This story is true and I had the chance already when I was younger, 17, 16 to practice with him in Monaco. And I think already there the process of trying to learn from the best players in the world started. Then obviously the match is different, he told me after the match try to move the ball a little bit more, not being a little bit predictable,” he said.

“So we are trying to do that, Obviously the serve has improved a lot but still I have the feeling that I still can improve a lot and that’s why I have a great team behind me to keep pushing.”

Sinner also mentioned that he has a similar playing style to Djokovic’s, but also had some special praise for the Serbian. “I think we play really similar and you have to first of all try to return as many balls as possible,” he said.

“He’s such an incredible server so I tried to guess sometimes a little bit also and just trying to push, trying move him around a little bit. I’m not going to tell you the tactics because I have the feeling or I hope that I might play him hopefully couple of different matches also but it’s a pleasure to be here as I said, they call it the happy Slam for a reason,” he added.

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