Jannik Sinner, Paolo Bertolucci lapidary on defeat to Novak Djokovic

Jannik Sinner&#8217s defeat in the semifinals at the Australian Open against Novak Djokovic immediately caused a real earthquake among fans and insiders, most of whom were already ready to experience another remake of the rivalry between the South Tyrolean and Carlos Alcaraz, who a few hours earlier had suffered not a little to beat Alexander Zverev in the first semifinal. The five-set knockout of the world number two also impressed Paolo Bertolucci, who on X offered his interpretation of what happened.

The 1976 Davis Cup winner was lapidary and pointed his finger at the percentages on break balls: “Despite having all the favorable statistics – he wrote – Jannik Sinner succumbs because of a paltry 2 out of 18 in break balls in front of a monumental Novak Djokovic”. Only 11 percent, then, of points won on break balls for Sinner, while Djokovic, with 3 of 8 in total, finished at 38 percent in the same statistic. A non-marginal aspect, which for Bertolucci conditioned the final result.

Francesco Lucivero

With the defeat, Jannik Sinner&#8217s long unbeaten streak at the Australian Open, which began in 2024 and continued the following year, comes to an end. This year the trio will not succeed this year: succeeding the South Tyrolean will be either the veteran Djokovic, who is chasing success number eleven in the Australian Slam, his first since 2023, or the young rival Carlos Alcaraz, who in addition to strengthening his leadership in the world rankings will have the opportunity to complete the Career Grand Slam, since the Australian Open is the one he missed.

The Australian Open is the only one he missed.

The match between Sinner and Djokovic, beyond the final result, thrilled the fans in no small part, who experienced another match of the highest level, following the one between Alcaraz and Zverev, which lasted more than four hours in total, with a last set that came at the exact hour of play before Nole made the winning point.

Bertolucci, by the way, also spoke on X about the other two semifinalists, acknowledging the superiority of Carlos Alcaraz: “In tennis there are categories – he wrote on the social network born as Twitter -. Alcaraz and Zverev do not belong to the same”. Now there&#8217s only to wait for the final between Alcaraz and Djokovic, scheduled for Sunday in the Italian morning.