By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Monday, February 5, 2024
All good things must come to an end.
Reflecting on the end of Novak Djokovic's reign as Australian Open champion, coach Goran Ivanisevic said if the 10-time AO champion's rule had to end, he's glad it ended to Jannik Sinner.
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Playing with relaxed intensity, Sinner shredded Djokovic 6-1, 6-2, 6-7(6), 6-3 dethroning the defending AO champion to charge into his maiden major final at the Australian Open.
The fourth-seeded Sinner snapped Djokovic's 33-match AO winning streak then rallied from two sets down in the final to topple Daniil Medvedev and become the first Italian—male or female—to win the Australian Open singles championship.
"Sooner or later he had to lose, we were all aware of that," Goran Ivanisevic told Serbian publication Sportsklub in a new interview. "It's just a shame that it happened this way, but against Sinner if you're not 100 percent, you have nothing to ask for.
"And even when you're at 100 percent, you can still lose. However, the whole Australian Open was somehow not right for Novak, from the first round onwards. Well, let's move on, it's nothing that tragic."
Grand Slam king Djokovic struggled with a wrist injury he sustained during his United Cup loss to Alex de Minaur, though his coach said it was not a major issue in Melbourne.
Still, Ivanisevic said Sinner was a worthy winner.
The loss to Sinner was Djokovic's first ever AO semifinal defeat and marked the first time in his 415-match Grand Slam career, the Serbian did not earn a break point in a completed major match.
"No, nothing bothered him, he was healthy, but it just didn't work out," Ivanisevic said of Djokovic. "It can happen to him too, he's flesh and blood.
"On the other hand, if he had to have lost to someone, then I'm glad it was against Sinner."
Photo credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty