2 years ago, Novak Djokovic hit one of the greatest shots you will ever see against Jannik Sinner. When Novak Djokovic was flying on a tennis court.
John McEnroe names key to Novak Djokovic being defeated by Jannik Sinner in Australian Open semi-final
ATPThursday, 25 January 2024 at 14:30
The highly anticipated semi-final of the 2024 Australian Open in the men's draw is set to take place on Friday morning with Novak Djokovic set to face Jannik Sinner at around 4:30 CET. But John McEnroe sees a key to beat him while also admitting the Italian has an 'incredibly tall order' in doing so.
This is despite Djokovic's storied illness and injury woes during the Australian Open and also Jannik Sinner seeming to have his number as of late during the ATP Finals and Davis Cup Finals in particular and has been incredible during the Australian Open not dropping a set throughout.
“Novak is playing incredible tennis. The key for anyone to beat him, including Sinner, is do they deep down in the heart of hearts have the belief that they can beat Novak,” McEnroe told Eurosport.
“This is a mental game when you’re out there on your own. This is a physical game, yes, and you have your coach on the sidelines, but this is about believing and executing your game plan and thinking you can beat that one person on the other side of the court.
“That is one very tough thing as Djokovic is like a human backboard and knows how to manage himself when necessary, knows how to pace himself.
“He’s got everything. He's got every trick in the book. And he’s got no weaknesses. It’s an incredibly tall order to beat him in a best of five sets match. That’s why Djokovic can, and probably will win it again here.”
“This is a mental game when you’re out there on your own. This is a physical game, yes, and you have your coach on the sidelines, but this is about believing and executing your game plan and thinking you can beat that one person on the other side of the court.
“That is one very tough thing as Djokovic is like a human backboard and knows how to manage himself when necessary, knows how to pace himself.
“He’s got everything. He's got every trick in the book. And he’s got no weaknesses. It’s an incredibly tall order to beat him in a best of five sets match. That’s why Djokovic can, and probably will win it again here.”
But while McEnroe gives that fact about Djokovic, he sees Sinner as the best player who could in fact take down the World No.1 but that he will need to play a certain game to do it.
“I think Sinner is in the best position ever to do it. Obviously he’s worked hard on improving other aspects of his game,” McEnroe added. “Putting more on his serve, bringing his back foot up a little bit and getting more pop off it. Trying to be a little bit more unpredictable which he’ll need to do.
"He goes big off the ground and he will need to be willing to come to the net on some tight points. It will be interesting to see if he’s ready to do that yet.”
"He goes big off the ground and he will need to be willing to come to the net on some tight points. It will be interesting to see if he’s ready to do that yet.”
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