Novak Djokovic made to rue telling advice he gave to Jannik Sinner
Jannik Sinner ended Novak Djokovic's 32-match winning streak at Roland Garros on Friday night to reach his first ever French Open final
In a stunning upset at Roland Garros, Novak Djokovic was defeated by Jannik Sinner in the semi-final on Friday night, marking his first loss at the French Open in three years. The world No. 1 had been dominating this year's tournament without dropping a set but fell to Sinner in a closely contested 6-4, 7-5, 7-6(3) match, propelling the Italian into Sunday's final.
Sinner has now tipped the scales in his rivalry with Djokovic, boasting five victories to four defeats. Interestingly, it has come to light that Djokovic inadvertently played a role in improving Sinner's game, as revealed by the Italian's coach after their recent encounters saw Djokovic lose five of their last six matches.
Despite showing potential against Djokovic at Wimbledon in 2022, Sinner wasn't quite ready to clinch a win over the 24-time Major champion. He led by two sets in their quarter-final clash but ultimately succumbed in a five-set thriller.
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Darren Cahill, who had just started coaching Sinner at that time, viewed the loss as a chance to gain insights from one of tennis' greatest. Djokovic generously offered his advice, which Cahill discussed during an interview with TNT Sports.
He recounted approaching Djokovic for guidance following the Wimbledon match. Cahill shared his experience with the Serbian star: "Novak was one of the guys that I just went up to and straight asked him after Novak beat Jannik at Wimbledon in five sets.
"And a lot of the best players will say, 'Yeah, he's a great player, he's gonna be good. He does everything really well. Keep working hard', all the sort of vanilla stuff, but not Novak.
"Novak kind of broke his game down where, 'Hey, listen, he needs more variation and needs to improve that serve, he needs to come to the net a little bit more', and he really helped us."
Sinner's game has soared since receiving advice from Djokovic, with the 23 year old now dominating as the world's top player. He's clinched the No. 1 spot for over a year, boasts three Grand Slam victories, and in the 2024 season, he's been nearly unstoppable with only six losses.
Cahill remarked: "Not that we didn't know where the improvements were going to come from, but more for the fact that Jannik hearing it from Novak gave him a real perspective as to where he needed to improve. So Novak was really helpful to us three years ago in making sure that we've made those changes in his game."
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After a close three-set match, Djokovic commended Sinner's exceptional performance. "Jannik is the kind of player who loves to play in very fast pace the entire match. He's very physical. He's very fit, and he's striking the ball incredibly well," Djokovic observed.
"He seems to be always in a good timing. Rarely he's off-balance, and he's just playing the tennis of his life.
"Wherever you play him, whatever surface, you know that you're going to get that fast pace the entire time, which for me I don't mind necessarily so much, because it makes me alert from the very beginning."
