John McEnroe wonders if a changing of the guard is now imminent after
Jannik SInner produced another epic display to stop
Novak Djokovic at the 2024
Australian Open.
Sinner will now face Daniil Medvedev as he aims for his first Grand Slam crown and he used his own example that when the next generation came up amid his dominance, he swiftly stopped so he credits Novak Djokovic for keeping going and still being at the top of his game despite the onslaught from the new generation.
"The changing of the guard - when was that going to happen? We keep waiting for it. Djokovic has played Sinner, [Carlos] Alcaraz, he's risen to the occasion. And he was inspired, he said, by these players," said McEnroe on Eurosport.
"When I played those young kids like [Pete] Sampras and [Andre] Agassi, I was inspired to stop playing quickly, because those guys were too good, so I give Djokovic a lot of credit.
"But I was amazed at how flat he came out and how it was Sinner - when would you have thought that Sinner would move - for me - better than Novak Djokovic in a best-of-five-set match.
"So I was super impressed after he had match point and lost, that he was still able to gather himself and pull this out, really pretty convincingly in the fourth.
"I think he showed more than anything his mental toughness. To be that close and taste it, and Djokovic had the crowd getting into it, and here you go again with a guy that’s won it ten times. Now what?
"And he stepped right back up as if it hadn't even happened; as if he won the tie-breaker. So I was super impressed that he pulled it together that quickly.
He added: "I would bet my life savings that he was up to see who won that match [between Medvedev and Zverev]. He didn't go to bed, he was glued to see who he would play in the final."