Australian Open: Djokovic’s resilience and Sinner’s resilience

On the eve of the first slam of 2026, after eight slam finals played with an equal division of the spoils from Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner the question everyone was asking was: this year’s Australian Open final will always be the same. The only unknown is the name of the semi-finalists. And instead things went differently. Why? Because, as we know, tennis is the devil’s sport.

Carlos Alcaraz saves himself in the last game and manages to win against a outstanding Alexander Zverev after 5 hours and 27 minutes. Jannik Sinner, on the other hand, is unable to catch up with his slam revelry partner (and not only) in the last useful game and loses to the eternal, immense and very bad Novak Djokovic in five sets after over 4 hours of match.

A script that seemed already written

A different script from what seemed already written, even if the surprise comes from where you least expect it. At 38 years old the Serbian he accomplishes the feat of his life (but he has already accomplished plenty of feats of his life in his twenty-year career) and beats his highly favored opponent 14 years younger and considered almost unbeatable on this surface. It’s true that this is the home of Djo(kovic), the Serbian here he won a whopping ten timesbut 38 years is always an important age for those who do this sport.

Djokovic’s lesson

Not long ago the world no.4, last of the Big Three still in circulation, he had said that he felt he could beat both Alcaraz and Sinner in at least one ‘dry’ match. Someone had turned up their nose and spoken of delirium of a geriatric nature. But Nole wasn’t joking.

And Sinner now returns home with many regrets (the many missed break points, 16 out of 18) and a lesson he had talked about, perhaps out of politeness, the day before. He said that when he plays with the Serbian he always has to learn. And this time he learned that he shouldn’t never give up Djokovic as ‘dead’. And that, despite having strung together an incredible number of aces (24), he suffered three breaks, all decisive.

Great proof of resilience and intelligence

If there was still a need, Novak Djokovic, who will return world number 3 at the end of the tournament (but now the ranking has declared that it doesn’t look at it), he demonstrated the its unique capacity for resilience and tactical intelligence. He opposed Sinner’s deadly broadsides tennis made up of long ralliessometimes very angled, demonstrating continuity and unexpected resistance. It is no coincidence that the longest baseline rallies were almost always won by the Serbian.

Question: “Were you surprised by Novak Djokovic’s level?”

Jannik Sinner: “No. He’s won 24 Grand Slams. He’s the greatest of all time and reminded us why. I’ll take this as a lesson.”pic.twitter.com/LbnpdWLrdR

— Danny (@DjokovicFan_) January 30, 2026

With Alcaraz final without story?

Alcaraz arrives on Sunday for a final which – this time yes – seems to have a foregone conclusion. Also because Nole benefited from a lucky draw with one match not played in the round of 16 due to an opponent’s forfeit and one played only two sets (in which he was 2-0 down) with Lorenzo Musetti who later retired. Somehow it was ‘fresher’ than Sinner. But he’s still 14 years older…

On Sunday he reaches the final against the physically strongest and most resistant tennis player on the circuit who, despite having played one crazy marathon (won 6-4 7-6 6-7 6-7 7-5 in 5 hours and 27 minutes), this time appears to be a truly super favorite against an exhausted Nole. We’ll see, however Djokovic has already won by conquering his 38th career slam final and updating a record that already belonged to him (among many).

Nole is that “GOD” in the surname

At the end of the match someone wrote on social media: “What did you expect? How can you leave someone for dead who has the word DIO (or DJO) in his name?”. How can you blame him??