At 39, outlasting an opponent 14 years younger in a five-hour, 15-minute quarterfinal was no small feat. Yet Novak Djokovic rose to the occasion against Felix Auger-Aliassime to book his place in the Wimbledon semifinals. But after logging 16 hours and 32 minutes on court at SW19, the Serbian was beaten by Jannik Sinner.

Now, as the 39-year-old looks back at the campaign where he broke records and still gave a tough challenge to the younger rivals, Djokovic felt his level had not been good enough. And when the reporter asked about his stellar run at the SW19, the 24x Grand Slam champion had a blunt response.

“I just said you’re wrong. I don’t agree with your opinion”, said Djokovic in the post-match press conference. “I am always competitive. I always give my best under the circumstances. Sometimes it looks more from the outside, sometimes less. But only I know what I go through internally and what it takes to keep playing at this level. Of course, I’m disappointed. Of course, I wanted to win Wimbledon. That’s the reason why I’m still pushing myself so hard. I just lost to a better player. I have to accept it.

However, what the 39-year-old needs at this stage of his career is to get efficient wins in the early rounds to ensure the accumulated fatigue is under control so that he can go full throttle against the likes of Sinner.

Few players invest as much time and effort into recovery as Novak Djokovic. That dedication paid off in 2024, when he made a swift comeback from a knee injury.

Despite the injury that he sustained at the French Open that year, Djokovic made it to the court in record time, reached the Wimbledon final that year, and then went on to win Olympic gold.

He proved that again at last year’s Australian Open, overcoming Carlos Alcaraz in the quarterfinals despite carrying a knee injury.

However, there were no more miracles the 7x Wimbledon Champion could conjure on Center Court on Friday, as Sinner proved to be the better player, with the Italian’s serve a weapon Djokovic could not answer.

Novak Djokovic could not challenge Jannik Sinner’s serve at Wimbledon

Before the match, Sinner had explained that his serve would be a crucial shot against Djokovic, given the Serb’s experience and the movement on the grass. On match day, the Italian stayed true to his word, winning almost 90 percent of his first serve points, while facing one break point in the whole match, which he saved with an ace.

When Djokovic beat Sinner at Melbourne, the Italian surpassed the Serb on both service and return metrics, but the 24-time Major champion was better at playing the pressure points. While he converted 3 of the 8 break points, he was broken only twice despite conceding 18 break-point opportunities. After the match, Djokovic, who is arguably one of the best returners in the sport, confessed to not getting a read on the Sinner serve, also mentioning the Italian’s variations in both his first and second serves.

“You cannot attack his first serve. I mean, you can try to read it, block it, keep it, get it back in play”, said Djokovic in the post-match press conference.

The 39-year-old further added, “He’s using his height to great effect. Also, second serve very deep in the box, a lot of rotation. He can go for speed. He doesn’t make many double faults, so he’s just super solid.” The Serbian was not amiss as Sinner hit 16 aces in the match and did not make one single double fault.

With not many grass-court specialists around and Carlos Alcaraz out due to injury, this was one of the golden opportunities for Djokovic to capture the elusive 25th title.

However, Sinner has shown that the result in Melbourne was more of an anomaly, as the Italian has now won six of the last seven matches against the Serbian star. Djokovic did express his desire to be back at SW19 for one more time, but if he wants to get his hands on the title, odds are Novak Djokovic will have to face the Italian and beat him.