Novak Djokovic sets up Australian Open final with Alcaraz
Novak Djokovic beat Jannik Sinner in five sets to reach the Australian Open final, where he will face Carlos Alcaraz. Alcaraz overcame Alexander Zverev in the longest semifinal in tournament history, setting up a historic clash for Grand Slam glory
Melbourne: Novak Djokovic finally beat one of the two men who had been blocking his path to an unprecedented 25th Grand Slam singles title when he edged Jannik Sinner in five sets to reach the Australian Open final on Friday.
To get that coveted No 25, he will have to beat the other: top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz.
Both are chasing history in Sunday’s championship decider, with Alcaraz striving to become the youngest man at 22 to complete a career Grand Slam.
“There’s always, for me, also for Carlos because of his age and everything he’s achieved, history is on the line for both of us,” Djokovic told reporters in a brief interview approaching 3 a.m. “Finals of a Grand Slam. There’s a lot at stake.”
Alcaraz came through his own grueling five-setter. He overcame cramps and a sore right leg to fend off No 3 Alexander Zverev 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-7 (4), 7-5 in a match that lasted 5 hours, 27 minutes — the longest semifinal ever at the Australian Open.
That pushed the scheduled start of the Sinner-Djokovic semifinal back, and the 38-year-old Djokovic finally won 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 just after 1:30 a.m.
“It feels surreal,” Djokovic said of his 4-hour, 9-minute triumph. “Honestly, it feels like winning already tonight. I know I have to come back and fight the No 1 of the world. I just hope that I’ll have enough gas to stay toe-to-toe with him. For me, this is a win that almost equals winning a Grand Slam.”
Djokovic conceded he was lucky to even get to the semifinals. He narrowly missed hitting a ball girl with a reckless swipe in the third round, got a walkover in the fourth, and trailed Lorenzo Musetti by two sets in the quarterfinals before the Italian retired injured.
Against Sinner, the two-time defending champion, Djokovic was at the peak of his attacking and defensive powers. He fended off 16 of the 18 breakpoints he faced and ended a run of five losses to Sinner and four semifinal exits at majors.
“Had many chances, couldn’t use them, and that’s the outcome,” Sinner said. “Yeah, it hurts, for sure.”
Alcaraz and Sinner have split the last eight major titles since Djokovic won his last at the 2023 US Open. But nobody knows how to win more often at Melbourne Park than Djokovic, who has won all 10 finals he has contested there.
“I never stopped believing in myself,” Djokovic said. “There’s a lot of people that doubted me … a lot of experts all of a sudden that wanted to retire me. I want to thank them all because they gave me strength. They gave me motivation to prove them wrong.”
The top four seeds reached the men’s semifinals for just the fifth time, producing drama with back-to-back five-setters lasting a combined 9 hours, 36 minutes.
Alcaraz and Zverev surpassed the 2009 classic between Rafael Nadal and Fernando Verdasco as the longest Australian Open semifinal.
Alcaraz admitted he was struggling but kept “believing, believing, all the time.” He said: “I knew what I had to do. I had to put my heart into the match. I think I did it.”
Zverev, upset about Alcaraz’s medical timeout in the third set, later said: “This is one of the best battles there ever was in Australia. It doesn’t deserve to be the topic now.”
