MALAGA, SPAIN – NOVEMBER 25: Jannik Sinner of Italy celebrates winning match point during the Semi-Final match against Novak Djokovic of Serbia in the Davis Cup Final at Palacio de Deportes Jose Maria Martin Carpena on November 25, 2023 in Malaga, Spain. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images for ITF)
Getty Images for ITF
If Novak Djokovic is going to win a record 25th Grand Slam title, he may have to go through Jannik Sinner to do it.
World No. 4 Djokovic, the 24-time major champion and 10-time Australian Open winner, was drawn into the same half as No. 2 Sinner, the two-time defending Australian Open champion, during Thursday’s draw ceremony.
World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz was drawn to meet No. 3 Alexander Zverev in the other semifinal.
“The draw is very difficult, it doesn’t matter who you play,” Sinner, who is 22-4 in Melbourne and is seeking his fifth major title, said at the draw ceremony. “We are the best players in the world and the way is very, very long and very far. We will go day by day.”
Sinner leads Djokovic 6-4 in their head-to-head, which the Serbian once led 4-1. The 24-year-old Italian beat Djokovic in the 2024 Australian Open semifinals en route to his first major crown.
Chris Eubanks, the former ATP player and current ESPN analyst, had said that Djokovic needed to avoid Sinner in the semis to have his best chance of winning the title.
“If he goes up against Sinner — somehow Novak has to avoid Sinner,” Eubanks said ahead of the draw. “Someone needs to upset Sinner and then leave the door open for Novak and Carlos to battle it out. I just don’t know if anyone is going to get through Sinner on these courts. He’s won two in a row. Obviously Carlos won the last matchup in the final of a Slam on hard court. I think Sinner, they’ve done a good job of kind of playing a nice chess match in their rivalry of you win two, I win two; you win one, I win two; you win one, I win one.
“I think Sinner will be able to find some solutions to the way that Carlos played tactically in that U.S. Open, and I think the conditions in Australia suit Sinner’s game a lot more.”
The Serbian starts his campaign against Pedro Martinez while Sinner faces French lefty Hugo Gaston in the opening round.
Alcaraz is aiming to capture his seventh major crown and complete a career Grand Slam. The 22-year-old begins against Australian Adam Walton.
Two of the most interesting first-round matches are No. 6 Alex de Minaur against former No. 6 Matteo Berrettini and Zverev’s clash with hefty-serving Gabriel Diallo. De Minaur and Berrettini spit their hard-court meetings in 2025.
(The ATP contributed reporting)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamzagoria/2026/01/15/djokovic-sinner-could-meet-in-blockbuster-australian-open-semifinal/
