Novak Djokovic slams Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz in front of reporters

Thanks to the withdrawal of Lorenzo Musetti, Novak Djokovic has secured the semifinals of the Australian Open where he will face Jannik Sinner (who meanwhile torpedoed Ben Shelton with a score of 3-6 4-6 4-6). The Serb passed the round with a bit of luck as Musetti, leading 2-0, was forced to forfeit due to an injury: “I saw him struggling in the third set but some members of his staff told me that already from the second set he was suffering, evidently then the situation worsened and he had to drop out” Djokovic said in a press conference.

Ernesto Villa

A reporter then asked the Serbian champion how he feels about chasing Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner in terms of Slam titles, and Djokovic did not take it well at all: “So I am always the one chasing and never the one being chased? In the meantime I have won 24 Slams, I find it a little disrespectful to ignore the 15 years I have been dominating Slams. I don’t feel like a chaser. I have enormous respect for what Jannik and Carlos are doing and I am sure they will continue to do so for many years. Their level of tennis is very high but it doesn&#8221t mean that I give up, in fact I will fight until the end”.

In recent days there has been much talk about the privacy issue given the large number of cameras at the tournament. The issue has been raised by Coco Gauff, who after her loss to Elina Svitolina smashed her racket in the tunnel leading to the locker room not knowing she was being filmed: “I saw what happened to her and I understand her – said Djokovic -. It is sad not to find a space to vent without being filmed but we live in an era where content is everything. I think a limit should be put in place, we need a space that is really ours but I am afraid that will not happen, in fact I imagine there will be more and more cameras”.

There is great anticipation for the semifinal with Jannik Sinner: “I have lost to him four or five times in a row, he is playing at a very high level and certainly he and Carlos are the best in the world. Clearly Jannik is the clear favorite but you never know how the match will go, I will have to give everything to have a chance”.

“We are lucky to have a champion like Novak – said Sinner after the quarterfinals with Ben Shelton -, who at his age can still express himself at this level. It will be a good and complicated challenge. The match with Darderi gave me a lot of confidence from an athletic standpoint, I am continuing to improve”.