![\"tennis](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Pro-Player-Gear-610X150-03.jpg\")
<\/a>tennis express pro player gear<\/p>\nDjokovic snapped a five-match losing streak against Sinner (a stretch that included a lopsided loss in last year\u2019s Wimbledon semifinals) at this year\u2019s Australian Open. It was a shot across the bow of the younger generation, one that reminded everyone that even at 38 (then) or 39 (now), Djokovic remains capable of winning a major if the opportunity presents itself.<\/p>\n
He has that opportunity again at Wimbledon, but the circumstances are different. Djokovic is coming off a five-hour, 15-minute epic against Felix Auger-Aliassime in the quarterfinals, whereas in Australia he benefited from a walkover (Mensik) and a retirement (Musetti, in the third set) in the two previous rounds before facing Sinner.<\/p>\n
\u201cI still try to prove to myself and others that I\u2019m able to compete with the best players in the world and beat them on the biggest stage,\u201d Djokovic said on Tuesday after his victory over Auger-Aliassime sent him into a record eighth consecutive Wimbledon semifinal.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what I\u2019ve done in Australia. It\u2019s what I\u2019ve done here\u2014hopefully I can do it for a few more matches here in London.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sinner knows his biggest challenge of the fortnight now awaits.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven when I had this small streak with him, I felt like every match really has its own story,\u201d he said of his 12th career meeting with the seven-time Wimbledon champion. \u201cEspecially when you play on a surface like this, if you have a bad serving day or you\u2019re not feeling the ball very well, it\u2019s going to be very, very tough.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has won this tournament so many times and he knows exactly how to approach it.\u201d<\/p>\n
How will Djokovic rebound from his marathon with Auger-Aliassime? Will two days of rest be exactly what he needs?<\/p>\n
Chris Eubanks, previewing the semifinal for ESPN, believes Djokovic will be fresh.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to matter that much personally,\u201d he said of Djokovic\u2019s epic win on Tuesday evening.<\/p>\n
The reason? Djokovic isn\u2019t going to try to grind with Sinner from the baseline. He\u2019s going to play first-strike tennis, relying on efficiency, aggression and the element of surprise.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Novak\u2019s going to come out here with a clear game plan, similar to what he did in Australia against Jannik, and what he did to Carlos last year in Australia, where he played so much aggressive tennis,\u201d Eubanks said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe didn\u2019t allow himself to get into these long baseline-to-baseline exchanges. He\u2019s gonna jump on any short ball, get inside the court and take risks, because the only way he\u2019s gonna beat Jannik is by taking risks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eubanks has also paid close attention to Sinner\u2019s forehand through his first five matches. The Italian has leaked more errors than usual off that wing, which could present Djokovic with an opportunity.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s gonna be interesting to see if Novak wants to try to target Sinner\u2019s forehand early on,\u201d he said. \u201cWe know that Novak is one of the first players to really delve into analytics\u2014he\u2019s going to know that Jannik\u2019s forehand has been a bit more erratic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Andy Roddick believes Djokovic may actually benefit from knowing there\u2019s only one path to victory: playing on the front foot.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I do know is that there was an out when he was playing Felix, right?\u201d he said. \u201cHe could kind of get some stress relief and breathe in rallies if he found the backhand side. There\u2019s no relief against Sinner. Sometimes, when there\u2019s only one way that you can win a match, it almost provides clarity, focus and a little bit of freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roddick believes Djokovic will have to hit closer to the lines and keep Sinner moving.<\/p>\n
\u201cNovak is so good at being able to play through the middle of the court,\u201d he said. \u201cHe can do that against most people. Against Sinner, I actually think he needs to attack the sidelines. Sinner is one of the few players who can stand in there through the middle and go toe-to-toe with Novak.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for the forehand-to-forehand exchanges, Roddick believes Djokovic could prove vulnerable if Sinner finds his range crosscourt.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m curious about Sinner going after Novak\u2019s forehand,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is not a criticism\u2014we judge Novak against his own shadow. Going to the right, to the forehand, in some of these little mental lulls, guys have been able to get there and force errors. Safiullin was able to do it. Felix did it as well. Playing defense on the backhand side is definitely the better place for Novak to defend right now, so I think they\u2019re both going to send some traffic to the forehand and we\u2019ll see who comes out on top.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Novak Djokovic has put a bow on his rivalries with the Big 3\u2014as Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":399467,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":["post-789008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=789008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789008\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=789008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=789008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=789008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}