Tennis legend Todd Woodbridge has revealed he expects Jannik Sinner to “rival” Novak Djokovic’s numbers as he expressed his wish to see the pair battle it out in 2026.

Sinner holds a 6-4 record against Djokovic having won the pair’s last five encounters since he last lost to the Serbian at the 2023 ATP Finals.

The duo faced off twice in 2025, with Sinner defeating Djokovic in straight sets in the semi-finals at both the French Open and Wimbledon.

Speaking on the Australian Open YouTube Channel, Woodbridge was asked to name the most interesting rivalry in tennis after the rivalry between Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz.

“I want to see the Sinner-Djokovic in 2026, because you know that’s what drives him,” said the former doubles world No 1.

“That is the rivalry that I want to see more of in 2026. It is going to be the greatest that we know in terms of numbers in Djokovic, and Sinner is going to really rival those numbers, I believe. And so, this one (Djokovic) is trying to stop this one (Sinner) from getting near him.

“A lot like what was happening when Djokovic was getting close to [Roger] Federer and [Rafael] Nadal, you could see them going, ‘Oh, I hope he doesn’t win this one.’ And then he did. And Sinner is going to be doing that.

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“At Wimbledon this year, I thought that was [Carlos] Alcaraz’s tournament. Sinner wins it.

“Upon reflection, watching him there, I think he (Sinner) ends up winning more Wimbledons in his career. I think he’s going to rival five, six, maybe seven Wimbledons if everything goes well.

“It’s just got something that we can watch over an extended period of time, not just next year. What does Sinner do? How does Djokovic halt it while he’s still with us?”

The 22-time Grand Slam doubles champion went on to argue that Djokovic will be motivated to turn around his losing head-to-head record against Sinner.

“You can love or not love Novak, but what I do love about him is where he finds his energy, his motivation,” Woodbridge continued.

“And he finds it out of those rivalries, out of those moments, not wanting to let them have what he sees as his. So I think this is going to be fun watching both of them.

“But, if it’s even on the small scale, he wants to turn around a losing record to Sinner. You can bet on that.”

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