Djokovic makes his big point… again

Everything you needed to know about Novak Djokovic and his monopoly at Wimbledon — or in each Grand Slam of 2023, for that matter — came in an all-encompassing fourth game of the set second in his 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(4) semi-final win against Jannik Sinner on Friday.

At 15-15 on his serve, Djokovic was called out by the chair umpire for hindrance after a loud, extended grunt to his backhand that snatched a point still in play away from him. Hindered and irritated, Djokovic responded with a nonchalant back-to-business rally, making Sinner run side to side and extracting an error into the net. Big point. Djoker’s serious.

Facing his lone break point of the set in that same game, Sinner made Djokovic do all the running at the back of the court this time. Hindered and challenged, Djokovic, still grunting and stretching every ounce of his body to put the ball back into play, wore Sinner down to net a forehand standing tall in defence. Big point. Djoker’s serious.

At deuce and in his service routine of bouncing the ball several times, Djokovic received a time violation from the umpire. Hindered and distracted, Djokovic dished out a strong serve and cleaned it up with a winner at the net. Big point. Djoker’s serious.

If there was one factor that proved the decisive differentiator between Djokovic and Sinner on Friday, it is the Serb’s incredible ability to press a switch of his mental resolve and lift his game on the points that really matter—break points, deuce, 30-alls — to flatten his opponent.

It explains Djokovic winning the match in straight sets despite winning just nine points more than Sinner (105 to 96). It explains Djokovic winning his 15th straight tiebreaker — a tennis shootout where each point carries increased value — in a Grand Slam match. It explains Djokovic coming out unscathed even on days when his opponent plays at a good level without the statistical GOAT himself playing great.

“The scoreline maybe doesn’t give the reality of what was happening on the court,” Djokovic said after the win that took him to his ninth Wimbledon final going for his eighth title.

It really doesn’t. Sinner, the 21-year-old Italian who had taken Djokovic to five sets in the 2022 Wimbledon quarter-final, ended the match with more winners (44 to 33), more points won at the net (an impressive 22 of 29), more first serves in and points won behind it. Yet he walked off the court with nothing else apart from the solace of stats and a maiden Slam semi-final show.

Instead, the defending champion, age “36 is the new 26”, stole the show in the key moments. Take, for instance, the first game where Sinner, after two clinical forehand winners, set up a couple of break points only for Djokovic to save them and then convert a solitary break chance of his own. Or the fifth game where the Italian had another look at the Serb’s serve only for Djokovic to shut it down with a steady rally that ended with a Sinner mishit.

A hallmark of Djokovic’s expanding presence on these big points is his tendency to cut off cheap errors and turn extremely solid at the expense of being stunning. And so at 30-30 on his serve in the second game of the second set, Djokovic, staying compact on the baseline, induced a backhand and a forehand miss from Sinner. And so after unusually seeing two break opportunities come and go in the next game, Djokovic seized on the third after a solid baseline exchange saw Sinner crack with a forehand error. And so at 30-30 in the sixth game, Djokovic produced a strong serve to nudge ahead.

The Djokovic serve, an underrated aspect of his game, also often finds its range and velocity come these points; like in the fourth game of the third set where a one-two play — precise first serve followed by a forehand winner — got him out of another 30-30 scoreline.

Distractions, hindrance or otherwise, also seldom pull him down in these situations. Staring at a 15-40 hole while serving to stay in the third set, a section of the crowd broke the silence between his two serves. Djokovic paused for a sarcastic applause, yet got back to his zone and saved the two break points forcing errors from Sinner. A crucial hold that unlocked the tiebreaker.

That’s where Djokovic’s big-point, big-moment mentality of champions really comes to the fore. That’s where Djokovic had not been trumped 14 consecutive times in a Slam; neither by Casper Ruud in the first set he controlled yet surrendered in the French Open final nor by Hubert Hurkacz who delivered two near-perfect opening sets firing 23 aces yet lost them both in this Wimbledon Round of 16 match.

That’s where Sinner, despite being 3-1 in the lead that blew away as quickly as his efficiency of strokes compared to the man on the other side, had no real hopes of stopping Djokovic from winning his 15th on the bounce.

“It was super close,” Djokovic said. “The third set could have gone his way.”

Yet, like it so often does on big points in big matches of the big stages, it went Djokovic’s way. Hard to see how a fifth straight Wimbledon title can be stopped from going his way too.