Novak Djokovic said he would like to return to Wimbledon “at least one more time” following his straight-sets defeat by Jannik Sinner in Friday’s semi-final.
The 39-year-old Serb admitted, though, that he was now in an “internal battle” with himself, having to adjust to a new reality and be “more humble” after 20 years operating at the highest level.
Djokovic’s bid for a record 25th grand slam, and eighth Wimbledon crown, came to a juddering halt as he went down 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to world No 1 Sinner in a match he described as a “good old blowout”.
After coming through the longest quarter-final in Wimbledon history on Tuesday night, a 5hr 15min epic against Canada’s Félix Auger-Aliassime, which finally ended six minutes before the 11pm curfew, hopes had been high that Djokovic, one of the game’s greats, might be able to go on and reach Sunday’s final.
But the Centre Court crowd, already deflated after watching Britain’s Arthur Fery get torpedoed by Alexander Zverev, had to watch another one-sided affair, with Sinner proving to be much the stronger player.
The Italian also dispatched Djokovic in straight sets in last year’s semis and the Serb admitted afterwards that he was facing up to a new reality.
“For me, it’s good but not good enough, because I’m blessed and cursed to be used to something of a highest degree in terms of results and achievements,” he said. “It’s kind of that internal battle really of what I’ve been through for the 20-plus years of my career, what the goals were always, the expectations, and trying to balance it out and really be a little more humble in that sense.”
Djokovic began well enough, holding his first four service games. But already there were signs in the early stages that he was finding it difficult to live with Sinner’s power and accuracy, the Italian pounding the ball deep into the corners and regularly blowing Djokovic off court.
Sinner got lucky with a net cord at 4-4, 15-15, but made the most of it to secure the only break of the first set. Djokovic was winning just 14 per cent of points on his second serve at this point.