Jannik Sinner will face the most difficult assignment yet of his Wimbledon title defence when he goes up against Novak Djokovic in the semifinals.
Sinner and Djokovic will meet for the 12th time on the ATP Tour, and the first since their five-set thriller at the Australian Open, where the Serb came out on top.
The Italian was dethroned in Melbourne Park by the 24-time major champion, who ultimately lost to Carlos Alcaraz in the final.
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Djokovic’s victory over Sinner at the Australian Open snapped a five-match losing streak in their rivalry, having been winless against him since 2023.
Ahead of their clash at Wimbledon, Serena Williams‘ former coach Patrick Mouratoglou pinpointed what cost the world number one the match Down Under.
Patrick Mouratoglou compares Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic
In a post on Instagram, Mouratoglou said: “There’s such a huge difference between how Jannik and Novak manage their match, and it has so much consequence on their ability to win or not in the big matches.
“Since the start of the tournament, we have had a different Novak. He always adapts to the player. If he thinks he can afford not to go 100%, he will.
“If you compare with Jannik, for example, Jannik is going full every single match from the first point to the last one. He tries to leave the least number of games, tries to win as hard as he can. Novak, never.
“Novak will always put himself in a situation where he will have a lot of very important points to play. Again, I don’t know if he does it on purpose or not, but it’s a fact that he does it.
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“He levels up when he has no other choice than to level up and that’s why he’s this competitor that he is.
“It’s dramatically different from Jannik who’s killing the opponent every time he can. He gets the habit to be full intensity all the time.
“But on the other hand, he doesn’t have a lot of these very critical points to play in a match. And when it comes to the big matches, and that showed a lot in Australia against Novak, at the end of the match Jannik won 12 more points than Novak.
“But Novak won the match because when he counted the most, he was the most efficient.”
Novak Djokovic’s record against Jannik Sinner on grass
While Sinner leads the head-to-head with Djokovic overall 6-5, the latter is in front when it comes to grass-court matches.
Their first meeting on the surface came in the 2022 Wimbledon quarterfinals, where Djokovic came back from two sets down to win en route to hoisting his seventh trophy at the All England Club.
The next year, the two met in the semifinals of Wimbledon, with Djokovic winning in straight sets this time.
In 2025, however, Sinner beat Djokovic on grass for the first time before going on to battle past Alcaraz in the final.
Sinner is looking to complete his second Grand Slam title defence, while Djokovic is bidding to become the outright all-time leader in major titles, surpassing Margaret Court.
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