{"id":793956,"date":"2026-07-11T00:58:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T00:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/793956\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T00:58:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T00:58:12","slug":"wimbledon-defeat-makes-djokovic-realize-hes-blessed-and-cursed-by-the-success-of-his-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/793956\/","title":{"rendered":"Wimbledon defeat makes Djokovic realize he\u2019s \u2018blessed and cursed\u2019 by the success of his career"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Novak Djokovic of Serbia leaves after losing to Jannik Sinner of Italy in their men’s singles semifinal at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London on Friday.Kin Cheung\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

Novak Djokovic didn\u2019t dwell on Centre Court after getting dominated by Jannik Sinner in the Wimbledon semifinals.<\/p>\n

The 39-year-old Djokovic enjoyed a warm, smile-filled embrace with his 24-year-old opponent at the net after the 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 defeat Friday, quickly packed up his tennis bags and then waved to the boisterous crowd as he held one hand to his chest to show his appreciation as he walked off.<\/p>\n

Will the seven-time Wimbledon champion ever be back to play on these hallowed lawns again?<\/p>\n

Only time \u2014 something that Djokovic is running out of \u2014 will tell.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been nearly three years since Djokovic won his record-extending 24th Grand Slam singles title at the 2023 U.S. Open. And despite reaching the semifinals at all four Grand Slams last year and reaching a final and another semi in two of three Slams this year \u2014 he acknowledges that\u2019s not enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor 99% of the players, that would be a very good Grand Slam result,\u201d Djokovic said. \u201cFor me, it\u2019s good but not good enough, because I\u2019m blessed and cursed to be used to something of a highest degree in terms of results and achievements.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always have the highest expectations for myself,\u201d Djokovic added. \u201dSo it\u2019s kind of that internal battle really of what I\u2019ve been through for the 20-plus years of my career, what the goals were always, the expectations, and trying to balance it out and really be a little more humble in that sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Djokovic expressed interest in playing Wimbledon when he\u2019s 40: \u201cI would like to, at least one more time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel when I\u2019m healthy,\u201d Djokovic added, \u201cI\u2019m still able to play as a top-five player, still able to compete at the highest level.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Sinner, it was a measure of revenge after Djokovic won their last meeting in five sets in this year\u2019s Australian Open semifinals.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlaying against Novak,\u201d Sinner said, \u201cwhat he\u2019s still showing is true inspiration.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aiming to defend his title at the grass-court Grand Slam, the top-ranked Sinner will face second-seeded Alexander Zverev in Sunday\u2019s final.<\/p>\n

Zverev ended the \u201cFerytale\u201d run of British wild card Arthur Fery with an overpowering 7-6 (0), 6-2, 6-4 victory earlier as the star-studded crowd on Centre Court witnessed two one-way contests.<\/p>\n

Zverev will be playing for another major trophy a month after winning his first Grand Slam title at Roland Garros.<\/p>\n

If there were any lingering questions over Sinner\u2019s physical status after his meltdown at the French Open, they should be answered now.<\/p>\n

Sinner blasted his way past Djokovic and showed off the kind of dominance he displayed before that second-round defeat in Paris.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew mentally,\u201d Sinner said, \u201cthat today I had to raise my level, which I\u2019ve done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andre Agassi attributed Sinner\u2019s performance in part to Djokovic: \u201cWhat these guys can do now is all because he has shown them what\u2019s possible,\u201d Agassi said on the BBC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Novak Djokovic of Serbia leaves after losing to Jannik Sinner of Italy in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":793957,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,82,865,61,593,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-793956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-tennis","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793956","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=793956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793956\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/793957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=793956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=793956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=793956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}