MATCH PREVIEW and PREDICTION | 2024 Australian Open Semi-Finals: Novak DJOKOVIC tussles again with thorn in his side Jannik SINNER

Friday morning will see the 2024 Australian Open final set with the two semi-finals being assessed in our previews. First up is the main clash and a rivalry that has captivated men's tennis in recent months as Novak Djokovic will again face Jannik Sinner for a spot in the final.

Sinner has been utterly imperious all tournament and has been as of late against Djokovic and since handing him defeat at the ATP Finals has certainly had his number and given the form and lack thereof at times during the Australian Open of Djokovic some are expecting the unbeatable streak in Melbourne to end potentially.

So far this tournament, Djokovic has blown hot and cold. After early wobbles against Dino Prizmic and Alexei Popyrin, he has found his feet with back to back wins over Tomas Martin Etcheverry and Adrian Mannarino. Paul McNamee said that he didn't look well during the latter as despite sweeping the 20th seed aside, his box looked concerned about his physical condition. The Serbian kingpin has been mooted to be suffering with a viral infection and a tissue fell out of his pocket during his opening match to confirm that.

As well as the issues with his wrist which was a pre-tournament storyline and nearly come to fruition during his opening match. But despite easing past two of those clashes, the warning signs also came on early against Taylor Fritz. A player who often struggles against Djokovic, his Head to Head record went to 9-0 behind still, but in over-exerting himself somewhat in the opening two sets, he showed that there was a route past the great Serbian wall. It shows that despite him reaching the semi-finals, the word easy doesn't come into it.

While Jannik Sinner on the other hand perhaps has been the player of the tournament so far and it's no surprise that this is the case given his form at the end of last season including his wins over Djokovic. Bookended with winning the Davis Cup Finals with Italy, he didn't play from then until the Australian Open giving some doubts about his form.

But similar to Aryna Sabalenka in the women's draw, he has not dropped a set so far and looks the best set for the title this week. Albeit Djokovic of course is a different battle to those he has faced before, but one he knows how to win. He opened up with victories over Botic van de Zandschulp and Jesper de Jong with the Double Dutch triumph being a sign of things to come. He then saw off three seeds on the bounce blowing aside Sebastian Baez before seeing off perennial Grand Slam spoiler, Karen Khachanov.

Andrey Rublev was his Quarter-Final opponent with the tie seen as a likely five set all over, but his set streak continued with the Russian unable to take his chances to get some semblance of an opportunity on the board. A match that was mooted to last five hours lasted considerably less thankfully for the organisers with a late finish potentially mooted. But it will likely go the distance with Djokovic.

It is an interesting tale of the tape between the pair as Djokovic leads the Head to Head 4-2, but two out of the last three meetings have been won by Sinner including the first ATP Finals clash and he of course had the chance to dump him out of the ATP Finals with a loss to Holger Rune but couldn't seal the deal and then lost to Djokovic in the final. But he got revenge mere weeks later when he defeated him on course to the win at the Davis Cup Finals and despite not technically being part of the Head to Head, he also found his way through in the doubles too.

Sinner is undefeated so far in 2024 and is on an eight match winning streak which as per aforementioned has been an imperious run, he hasn't lost a set all tournament. But Djokovic on the big occasion in Australia is a different animal and he is on a 33 match winning run in the tournament and his country run was only stopped by Alex de Minaur at the United Cup. A lot to ponder ahead of the big clash and one that could go either way.