What happened under the lights Friday night at Rod Laver Arena?
Where was Jannik Sinner’s huge tennis game?
That came after Carlos Alcaraz came so close to attending the wrong party. The Spanish Wonder came that close to wilting his way out of this Australian Open.
MAYBE THE LIGHTS GOT TO SINNER
Alcaraz simply came alive at the critical moment of his afternoon battle with Germany’s hard-hitting 6-6 Alexander Zverev. Alcaraz almost took the excitement too far when he fell to a 5-3 count in the fifth set of a head-on collision with Zverev. The Spanish star won that game and then completed his 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-7 (4), 7-5 trip to Sunday’s Australian Open final.
Maybe it was the lights at Rod Laver Arena that threw Sinner off against Novak Djokovic.
This wasn’t the everyday Novak as he did everything but defeat his round of 16 and quarterfinal opponents. A cakewalk free ride past those two opponents obviously played a key role in Novak’s trip to this Australian Open final.
WHAT HAPPENED TO SINNER’S GAME?
But what happened to Sinner’s planned ride to another Australian Open final?
The answer to that is a 38-year-old Serbian who practically lived a long tennis career in Melbourne.
This will be Djokovic’s 11th trip to the Australian Open championship match.
Djokovic was everywhere, or it seemed that way as he pretty much dominated the last two sets of his 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Sinner. This had to be one of Novak’s most spectacular performances in his long tennis career.
NOVAK HAD ALL OF THE ANSWERS
Sinner simply couldn’t handle Djokovic’s amazing quickness, consistency and power once he got the first three sets out of the way. He was spectacular in all elements of the game.
Sinner tried hard to unravel Djokovic, but nothing the Italian star did could consistently out-rally Novak. And then when it came time for Sinner to unleash his own power, he fired blanks.
Novak wanted to win, and he did it in spectacular style.
The talented Alcaraz could have a difficult time corralling his own game and magic against Djokovic and his experience, not to mention Novak’s amazing success with a tennis racket. It should be an interesting and exciting men’s final.
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James Beck was the 2003 winner of the USTA National Media Award for print media. A 1995 MBA graduate of The Citadel, he can be reached at Jamesbecktennis@gmail.com.
