​World No. 1 Jannik Sinner and 24-time major champion Novak Djokovic are scheduled to clash in the Wimbledon semifinals on Friday (ESPN). Sinner enters as the defending champion after knocking out the Serbian icon in last year’s semifinals on his way to the title. Djokovic had beaten Sinner most recently at the Australian Open semifinals, though he went on to lose the final to Carlos Alcaraz.
Djokovic is chasing a record-extending 25th major title, and a victory over Sinner would bring him within one win of history. “One of the things about Novak that just blows me away is what he’s doing now, especially given the toll of aging,” ESPN’s Andy Roddick remarked on air. “For a long time you could understand the obsession… He was chasing Federer, he was chasing Nadal. He’s at 24, chasing ghosts at this point, and he’s still showing up and making semis at almost every Slam.”
Here are some notes from their latest meeting: Sinner leads Djokovic 6-5 in their head-to-head, though Djokovic owns a 2-1 edge on grass, including Wimbledon wins in the 2022 quarterfinals (five sets) and the 2023 semifinals (straight sets). Djokovic’s recent quarterfinal against Felix Auger-Aliassime lasted 5 hours and 15 minutes, with a 7-6(10), 3-6, 6-3, 6-7(4), 7-6(4) result that extended his match time before the semifinal rest. The Wimbledon champion will earn roughly $4.8 million, while the runner-up takes about $2.4 million and the semifinalists around $1.2 million. Djokovic holds seven Wimbledon titles and is aiming to tie Roger Federer with an eighth; he’s playing in his eighth consecutive Wimbledon semifinal, one more than Federer. Djokovic and Margaret Court are tied with 24 Grand Slam titles, and another major would crown Djokovic as the indisputable greatest of all time.
Sinner has already won four major titles, including this year’s Australian Open and Wimbledon last year. In the French Open second round, Sinner led 6-3, 6-2, 5-1 over Juan Martin Cerúndolo before cramping forced him to concede in five sets. Alexander Zverev would go on to win his first major title, snapping a streak of nine consecutive majors won by Sinner and Alcaraz.
When Sinner faced Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff in the Wimbledon quarterfinals, he claimed victory in straight sets, a result he called “important to get done in three sets.” “It’s hot today—definitely not quite French Open temperatures,” he said. Asked about the relief of navigating the match in heat, Sinner replied, “Yeah, thanks for reminding me. We worked a lot after Paris to understand what went wrong there. We prepared ourselves in the best possible way. It was a huge test today, and I felt really, really comfortable physically. A good step forward.” He added that if a similar situation to Paris arises again, he hopes it doesn’t, but if it does, they’ll be better prepared.