Novak Djokovic believes that he has answered his critics with his marathon win over Jannik Sinner in the semifinal of the Australian Open on Friday.
Djokovic battled to a 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 triumph over the World No.2 Sinner to secure his berth in the final at Melbourne Park where he is set to take on Carlos Alcaraz.
“I never stopped doubting. I never stopped believing in myself,” said Djokovic.
“There’s a lot of people that doubt me. I see there is a lot of experts all of a sudden that wanted to retire me or have retired me many times the last couple of years.
“I want to thank them all because they gave me strength. They gave me motivation to prove them wrong, which I have tonight.”
Djokovic, who had lost the five previous matches to the 24-year-old
Sinner, lauded the mammoth effort of the Italian to push him to the limit and bring the best out of the 38-year-old.
“It feels surreal, to be honest,” said Djokovic.
“I have tremendous respect for him, an incredible player. He pushes you to the very limit, which is what he did tonight to me,” he added.
Alcaraz moved into his maiden Australian Open final with his epic win over Alexander Zverev on Friday at the Rod Laver Arena in a game that lasted just under five and a half hours.
Alcaraz registered a 6-4, 7-6, 6-7, 6-7, 7-5 win over German Zverev to secure his place in the summit clash.
Controversy arose when Alcaraz, clutching his right thigh in pain, was permitted to receive treatment at the changeover at 4-4 in the third set, which left Zverev fuming and arguing with officials, as according to the rules, medical timeouts are not allowed solely for muscle cramping.
Zverev opined that Alcaraz should not have been allowed a medical timeout for apparent cramps during their marathon semi-final on Friday. However, he emphasized that this should not detract from one of the best battles ever at the Australian Open.
