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Jannik Sinner dished out a dominant dose of Grand Slam semi-final revenge on Friday at Wimbledon, where the Italian eased past Novak Djokovic in straight sets to reach the championship match for the second consecutive year.
The No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings, Sinner prevailed 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 against seven-time champion Djokovic at The All England Club. Having lost in the pair’s only other meeting in 2026, a last-four clash at January’s Australian Open, Sinner ensured there would be no repeat disappointment with a classy two-hour, 20-minute display on Centre Court.
“Amazing [to be in the final again]… The atmosphere has been amazing since the first day and it means a lot to me that I can play one more final here,” Sinner said in his on-court interview. “It’s the most special tournament we have, and it means a lot to me. Of course, playing against Novak and what he has been showing, it’s a true inspiration. Not only for [the crowd] but also for the new generation. What he is still doing is amazing.”
Having defeated his great rival Carlos Alcaraz to earn his first Wimbledon title in 2025, Sinner will bid to complete a successful defence of his crown in Sunday’s final against Alexander Zverev. Should he do so, Sinner and Alcaraz will have won 10 of the past 11 major titles, with Zverev's Roland Garros win last month the only outlier.
Sinner and Djokovic were contesting a Grand Slam semi-final for the sixth time, with three of those meetings coming at Wimbledon. Djokovic earned a comfortable victory in the pair’s last-four clash in 2023, while Sinner was a clear winner in their 2025 semi-final meeting. Friday’s encounter followed a similar pattern to the latter, with World No. 1 Sinner’s relentless groundstrokes and precise serving powering him to victory.
Sinner now leads Djokovic 7-5 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series, having won six of the pair’s seven most recent meetings. He is 2-2 with the Serbian great at Wimbledon, where he will on Sunday hope to retain the trophy by extending his winning streak against Zverev to 10 consecutive matches.
“We always have very tough matches, and the last one he won in the semis in Australia,” Sinner said, when asked about his rivalry with the 39-year-old Djokovic. “So I tried to make a couple of adjustments, even though here on grass it is very difficult.
“He had a very tough match, the last one against Felix, which we will remember I think forever here in this arena. I tried to stay quite aggressive, serving very well which helped me a lot today. He’s probably the best returner we have in our game, so I tried to mix it up. I’m very happy about today’s performance.”
Only three days on from winning the longest Wimbledon quarter-final in history against Felix Auger-Aliassime, Djokovic rarely looked like rousing a comeback after dropping the opening set of Friday's semi-final encounter. Sinner secured it with a backhand winner down the line at 4-4, 30/40, having let slip a break chance on the previous point by uncharacteristically netting a routine smash.
Sinner had dropped just four points on serve in the first set, and he backed that up by losing just six on his delivery in the second to pile the pressure on Djokovic. The Italian’s security from the line allowed him to play aggressively on return, and he converted his fourth break point of the set for a 4-3 lead, before winning back-to-back service games to love to move two sets ahead.
The writing appeared to be on the wall early in the third set. Djokovic fended off three break points in the opening game but could not repel a fourth, with the Serbian netting while trying to mix things up with a serve-and-volley. There was a flicker of hope for the Serbian when he finally carved out his first break point of the match, after an hour and 55 minutes, at 1-2. Yet Sinner coolly warded off the danger, in trademark fashion, before completing his win.
Sinner’s stunning serving display was reflected in the final statistics for the match. The Italian won 88 per cent (45/51) of points behind his first serve, sent down 16 aces, and saved the only break point he faced.
The second-seeded Zverev, who lifted his first major trophy last month at Roland Garros, booked his final berth earlier on Friday with a 7-6(0), 6-2, 6-4 win against home wild card Arthur Fery. It will be the first time in 2026 that the top two seeds meet in the men’s singles final at a major, after it happened at all four Grand Slam events in 2025.
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