Why Djokovic won against Sinner at Wimbledon and proved to be in another category – Corriere.it

We have a problem with Novak Djokovic. Not only the strongest tennis player in the world, also the distorted lens through which we look at contemporary tennis and cultivate our hopes. For the past twenty years, we have settled on those three, the Belgrade champion, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. Seeing them and experiencing them all together, many have thought that that greatness represented a term of comparison. But not so. Yesterday we had proof of that.
A good version of Novak defeated Jannik Sinner in three tight sets
, showing once again what the distance is between an unrepeatable phenomenon and an aspiring champion. When you lose, start with the glass half full. And so it must be said that the Italian boy deserved to take home a set. Even the statistics confirm that there was no big difference between him and the worst possible opponent.

Because this is still Djokovic, for everyone. A mountain that can only be climbed with perfection, and almost always not even that is enough, against his supernatural ability to be cynical and efficient in important points. At the 2022 Australian Open, Sinner took three sets to zero from Stefanos Tsitsipas. A year later, on the same field, he lost us in the fifth, among many regrets. At Wimbledon, with Djokovic it was the opposite. However, the match showed that Sinner is now one of the few players against whom the Serbian monster is not completely at ease in the exchange from the baseline. Djokovic fears Jannik’s power. And in fact, he often changed the rhythm by resorting to the slice, a shot that the South Tyrolean almost never plays because he doesn’t feel it. But without which, goodbye variations.

Our number 1 will never be a multidimensional player, yesterday we had another proof of that. If it fails to break through, plan B is still a guess. But let’s face it. There are not many opponents who can expose her flaws as happened yesterday. Even if it stays like this, even if the forehand will continue to be the least reliable fundamental of him, Jannik will still win. One more year, maximum two. Another era is about to begin, his and that of Alcaraz, of which the first glimmers can already be glimpsed. Just wait for Djokovic to meet Tempo, the only opponent he can’t defeat.