Novak Djokovic cruised into the Wimbledon final on Friday with a 6-4 6-4 7-6 victory over eighth-seed Jannik Sinner following a rare ‘hindrance’ violation.
Djokovic, 36, is now just one match away from equalling Roger Federer on eight Wimbledon men’s singles titles – the most in history – and lifting his fifth trophy in a row after winning the Championships in 2022, 2021, 2019 and 2018.
The 23-time Grand Slam champion, who surpassed Rafael Nadal for the most major men’s singles titles ever in Paris last month, will face world No.1 Carlos Alcaraz or third-seed Daniil Medvedev in Sunday’s final.
Sinner, 21, took Djokovic to five sets in last year’s Wimbledon quarter-final to spark hope the Italian could produce a shock result but the Serbian was too strong on Centre Court to keep his dreams of a calendar Grand Slam alive.
Djokovic endured somewhat of a shaky start as Sinner conjured up two break points in the first game of the match but turned it around to hold before breaking his opponent in game two to open up the lead.
Another hold followed but Sinner kept fighting, winning his first service game to keep the first set alive, and in game five he produced a third chance to break Djokovic, but his crosscourt forehand shot landed just out as the Serbian battled back from deuce to hold.
That saw the seven-time champion let out a short roar and glare towards his team and after Sinner held again, Djokovic went 5-2 up, enough for him to take the first set 6-3 as no more break points followed.
It was clear from the first set that the majority of the Centre Court crowd were behind underdog Sinner but there were pockets of Djokovic fans too, with chants of ‘Nole, Nole, Nole’ after the duo traded service games at the start of the second.
Their encouragement seemed to inspire Djokovic, who knocked up three break points as Sinner struggled with a double fault and a backhand shot which landed long, and the Serbian converted the third before yelling out in delight.
Game four of the second set was a dramatic one – with Djokovic furiously ranting at umpire Richard Haigh after being slapped with a hindrance violation for shouting during one of Sinner’s shots mid-rally – and he was also handed a time violation for taking too long to serve, saving break point to take a 3-1 lead.
After an exchange of service games at the start of the third set, Djokovic raced into a 40-love lead on the Sinner serve in game three but wasted three chances to break his opponent, who held to keep his hopes of an unlikely comeback alive.
Djokovic has never lost at Wimbledon after winning the first set, though, and after needing four to get past Andrey Rublev and Hubert Hurkacz in his last two matches, the Serbian looked to wrap up the victory in straight sets.
Djokovic was left sweating in game 10 as Sinner went 40-15 up on his serve to bring up two set points out of nowhere, which sparked the loudest cheer on Centre Court of the match so far, as Djokovic sarcastically clapped the crowd.
One spectator then screamed ‘come on Rafa’ – in reference to Djokovic’s rival Rafael Nadal – which prompted laughter among fans but it did nothing but fire up the Serbian, who saved both set points and turned around to shout back at the crowd after taking it to deuce, which saw him loudly booed.
Djokovic wiped away a fake tear as he held and another trade of service games took us to a tie-break. The Italian took a 2-0 lead but the current Wimbledon champion continued his superb record in tie-breaks to take it 7-6 (7-4) and make it game, set and match.
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