187
Wimbledon 2026: A ruthless Jannik Sinner beat Novak Djokovic for the 7th time in as many as 12 meetings as the latter’s dream of clinching his 25th Grand Slam title got crushed with a straight set loss 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in Wimbledon 2026 semi-final on July 10, Friday. With Sinner into his second consecutive Wimbledon final, he faces the formidable challenge of Alexander Zverev, who won the Roland Garros title this year.
Wimbledon 2026: Jannik Sinner regains full control after slightly shaky start
The searing temperatures of previous days dipped for the day’s second semi-final but Sinner turned up the heat on the 39-year-old Djokovic who barely laid a glove on the Italian. Sinner will bid for a fifth Grand Slam title on Sunday against Germany’s Alexander Zverev who ended the dream run of British wildcard Arthur Fery earlier on Centre Court. Top seed Sinner has raised his level round by round after a tricky start to his title defence and was dialled in from the first game against the man he lost to at the same stage of this year’s Australian Open. He did not face a single break point for nearly two hours on Friday by which time he had the match under control.
Djokovic had spent 16-1/2 hours on court to make his 15th Wimbledon semi-final, including the longest match of the tournament against Felix Auger-Aliassime on Tuesday, and his exertions finally seemed to catch up with him. Sinner pummelled a backhand winner down the line to break serve decisively in the ninth game of the opening set — the ball whizzing past a stunned Djokovic.
The 24-year-old Sinner pushed at the door in the second set and Djokovic’s resistance buckled at 3-3 as the Serb was left flat-footed by a sublime Sinner drop shot. The writing was on the wall when a free-flowing Sinner broke early in the third and although Djokovic fought on he wore a resigned look as his hopes of an eighth Wimbledon title ebbed away in the evening sunshine. While there is another Grand Slam yet to come in the form of US Open, it remains to be seen whether or not Djokovic is done with professional Tennis. Additionally, the path for the 25th Grand Slam title will only get stiff, given Carlos Alcaraz could also be back in the mix.
(With inputs from Reuters)
