Novak Djokovic has been given some clear advice ahead of his Wimbledon semi-final against Jannik Sinner.
Djokovic beat Felix Auger-Aliassime in five hours and 15 minutes to set up his semi-final match against Sinner.
It was a very different quarter-final for the world number one, with Sinner beating Jan-Lennard Struff in straight sets in his latest match.
With 39-year-old Djokovic seemingly fighting an uphill battle ahead of his match against Sinner, he has now been told to copy something that Carlos Alcaraz does in their upcoming match.
Novak Djokovic told exactly what he needs to do against Jannik Sinner
The upcoming semi-final between Djokovic and Sinner was discussed on the latest edition of The Big T Podcast between former top 30 doubles player Nick Monroe and Brad Gilbert, who has coached the likes of Andre Agassi, Andy Murray and Coco Gauff.
Monroe in particular had four pieces of advice for Djokovic on how he could beat Sinner, which included playing more drop shots and short slices like Alcaraz does against the world number one.
“There’s a few things that are big keys in the matchup that he’s going to need his legs for,” began Monroe.
“The biggest thing is neutralising Jannik Sinner’s pace. We know that Jannik Sinner’s pace, when he hits through the court, you can get put on defence pretty quickly and then you land some balls short, see you later. So that’s number one.
“Number two, Novak Djokovic is going to need to give no free points on the return. So he’s going to need to dominate the return game, get those serves back in play, make Jannik Sinner play. We’ve been talking about how hot it is. You don’t want to give any free points to Jannik Sinner, you want to make him work.
“Also, attack into the forehand of Jannik Sinner. We know that’s a strength of Jannik Sinner, but if you let him go backhand to backhand and then run around to find forehands on that left side of the court, I feel like that’s when he’s at his best. But if you use the backhand down the line, really attack him into the forehand, then you can spread open the court.
“I also think he’s going to need to use some drop shots. We’ve been seeing that from Carlos Alcaraz mixing in the drop shot, maybe some short slice, something to be unpredictable, not just baseline tennis.
“And we’re going to see some incredible movement as we know, two of the best grass court movers out there. That’s going to be fun to watch.
“But the biggest thing that Novak Djokovic brings is decision making. He is absolutely clutch in decision making in big moments. We saw it in the last set against FAA [Felix Auger-Aliassime], the 10-point tie-breaker where he went into lockdown mode, he looked like at that moment, he could have gone another set or two sets. Obviously at the end of the match he was exhausted, but mentally he went into complete lockdown mode.”
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Gilbert then joined the conversation, praising Djokovic for the way he uses the first week of Grand Slams at this stage in his career and highlighting what he did against Sinner at the Australian Open earlier this year.
“I felt like at the end of that match and such a physical match, it was actually Novak that was playing quicker, trying to get at his legs,” said Gilbert.
“I still think it’s unbelievable at Novak’s age that he comes into these majors undercooked and he basically uses the first week of the tournament to basically get his fitness and that’s how he gets his feel back, which is so difficult to do.
“And then all of a sudden when you haven’t played for a while and then play one of these long matches, I think that’s phenomenal. And it’s so underrated that he’s able to use the first week basically to get into position to be where he’s at in the second week.
“I think that Sinner finally, the last couple of matches, I think has played his best ball. He hasn’t played anywhere near what we saw during the streak of the Masters series.
“One thing that I didn’t notice tactically from Australia, I rewatched the match this morning and Novak used, because he had lost the last few matches in a row to Sinner.
“What’s exceptional about him is he is willing to make these changes. I thought he played a lot more hard middle and then when Sinner opened up the court, going hard and fast to the forehand. Normally Novak plays with a lot of discipline out of the corners to try and get back to neutral, but in that match in Australia, he hit so many running forehand winners, like Pete Sampras.
” I think that surprised him how much, and he’s been doing that here as well at Wimbledon, so now how much will team Sinner, how much will [Darren] Cahill remember from that match? That God, we had him stretched out to the forehand, which they want to do to open up the court, but then he got beaten with the injection of pace.
“So that’s something to watch for and then that use of the hard middle, those were two things that I saw a lot of. It’s going to be incredibly hot. The court is going to be higher bouncing and form, so much easier to move for. It’ll play much more like a hard court at this tournament with this warm weather.”
Can Carlos Alcaraz win MORE Grand Slams than Novak Djokovic? 🤔
Novak Djokovic vs Jannik Sinner Head-to-Head
The Wimbledon semi-final between Djokovic and Sinner will be the 12th match they have played in their head-to-head.
Sinner currently leads the head-to-head against Djokovic 6-5, but the rivalry has undergone many different changes of momentum.
Djokovic won his first three matches against Sinner, but since then the Italian has won six of their next eight matches.
Three of these matches have actually been at Wimbledon, with Djokovic winning the first two, while Sinner beat the seven-time champion in the semi-finals last year.
| Year | Tournament | Result |
| 2021 | Monte Carlo Masters (R32) | Djokovic beat Sinner, 6-4 6-2 |
| 2022 | Wimbledon (QF) | Djokovic beat Sinner, 5-7 2-6 6-3 6-2 6-2 |
| 2023 | Wimbledon (SF) | Djokovic beat Sinner, 6-3 6-4 7-6(4) |
| 2023 | ATP Finals (RR) | Sinner beat Djokovic, 7-5 6(5)-7 7-6(2) |
| 2023 | ATP Finals (F) | Djokovic beat Sinner, 6-3 6-3 |
| 2023 | Davis Cup Finals (SF) | Sinner beat Djokovic, 6-2 2-6 7-5 |
| 2024 | Australian Open (SF) | Sinner beat Djokovic, 6-1 6-2 6(6)-7 6-3 |
| 2024 | Shanghai Masters (F) | Sinner beat Djokovic, 6-1 6-2 6(6)-7 6-3 |
| 2025 | Roland Garros (SF) | Sinner beat Djokovic, 6-4 7-5 7-6(3) |
| 2025 | Wimbledon (SF) | Sinner beat Djokovic, 6-3 6-3 6-4 |
| 2026 | Australian Open (SF) | Djokovic beat Sinner, 3-6 6-3 4-6 6-4 6-4 |
Djokovic beat Sinner at the Australian Open earlier this year, in what was their most recent encounter, having twice fought from a set down to do so.
The 24-time Grand Slam champion will be hoping to repeat this feat when he plays Sinner in the Wimbledon semi-finals on Friday, July 10.
