“Not the feeling that I’m used to,” Novak Djokovic comments on his plans for the season after a crushing exit from the 2024 Australian Open

After 2195 days, Novak Djokovic has been finally vanquished at Melbourne Park. Playing against Jannik Sinner in the semi-finals of the 2024 Australian Open, the Serb went down fighting delaying the 25th Grand Slam title.

Sinner won the match 6-1, 6-2, 6-7(8), 6-3 in 3 hours and 22 minutes to reach his first-ever finals of a Grand Slam event. It was a sensational performance from the Italian executing his plans perfectly and outplaying the defending champion.

Djokovic had not been defeated for 33 consecutive matches on the Rod Laver Arena coming into today’s clash. But as all things come to an end, today was the time for the Serb’s streak to come to an end.

Having come very close to his possibly 11th Australian Open title and 25th career Major, the Serb somehow found a few positive words about his result today.

I still have high hopes, you know, for other slams, Olympics, and whatever tournaments that I'll play. It's just the beginning of the season.
 It's not the feeling that I'm used to. I mean, it kind of has been incredibly satisfying for me, you know, to start off most of my seasons with a Grand Slam win and never lost in semis or finals of Australian Open.

Said Djokovic speaking in the press conference.

So this time it's a bit different, but it is what it is. Let's see. I don't know. This tournament hasn't been, as I said, up to my standard or criteria or the level that I would normally play or expect myself to play, but doesn't necessarily mean that it's beginning of the end, you know, as some people like to call it. Yeah, let's see what happens in the rest of the season.

Added the Serb.

Semi-finals defeat fires up the World No. 1 race between Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz

Playing as the defending champion this year, Djokovic had all of his 2000 points to defend. He entered the Grand Slam event with a staggering 11,055 points to his name. Next to him was Carlos Alcaraz at World No. 2 with 8,855 points of his own.

The Spaniard lost in the quarter-finals to Alexander Zverev. But having missed the 2023 edition, Alcaraz had nothing to defend and only points to gain. As a result, he returns home with an extra 400 points to have a total of 9,255 points, breaching the 9000-point mark.

Today’s defeat to Sinner results in the Serb losing 1200 points from his tally. He will still be the World No. 1 with a total of 9,855 points to his name. This now heats the race for the World No. 1 spot as Alcaraz is now trailing by 600 points down from 2200 points at the start of the Major.

The young Spaniard was certainly heartbroken after his defeat to Zverev and will be extra charged to clinch some silverware. With the top two ranked players yet to confirm their schedule for the upcoming months, it will certainly be a good battle between them.

As for Sinner, he now awaits the winner from the clash between Zverev and Daniil Medvedev. The German is eyeing his maiden final qualification in Melbourne Park. The Russian on the other hand has reached two finals in the last three editions, finishing runner-up on both occasions.

In case you missed:

• Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer mark new feat as Serena Williams’ ex-coach draws a Lionel Messi-Cristiano Ronaldo comparison between them
• “We’ll see what’s coming on Sunday,” Jannik Sinner oozes confidence as he picks his preferred opponent for the Australian Open finals

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