Novak Djokovic is haunted by the shadow of decline. Like Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal in their last tournaments, he is still capable of defeating many rivals, not in vain having reached the semi-finals of all three Grand Slams this year, but his own body is not letting him go any further. At the Australian Open, he suffered a muscle tear in his left leg that prevented him from competing with Alexander Zverev; this Friday at Wimbledon, a hip injury hampered his performance against Jannik Sinner.
From the first game, the Serbian moved awkwardly around Centre Court, and the competition suffered. He still held his serve, but Sinner dominated every exchange at will from the baseline. In the end, the score was 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 after an hour and 53 minutes of play."Novak, Novak, Novak!" cheered the London crowd, with whom he maintains a tense relationship despite his seven titles, but there was no way out. Was this his last match on the grass of the All England Club? Only time will tell.
Sinner applauded him at the end of the match in recognition of his career. There was no grand celebration from the Italian, although in the third set Djokovic surprised him with an early break and he had to come back from 0-3 down. Perhaps that would have been rude. In any case, he will finally be playing in his first Wimbledon final, his fifth in a Grand Slam.
Against him, the fact that his rival will once again be Carlos Alcaraz and there has been a mental abyss between the two since his comeback in the Roland Garros final. In his favour, the lack of wear and tear he has suffered along the way. Throughout the tournament, the Italian has never played more than three sets. Against Luca Nardi in the first round, Aleksandar Vukic in the second, Pedro Martínez in the third and Ben Shelton in the quarter-finals, Sinner won quickly and in the round of 16, against Grigor Dimitrov, he also benefited from his retirement. The two sets he lost against the Bulgarian, who had him on the ropes, may have been reflected in his confidence, but the memory of what happened in Paris will be even harder to overcome.
