38-year-old djokovic

LONDON — Jannik Sinner overwhelmed a not-fully-fit Novak Djokovic 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 in the Wimbledon semifinals on Friday to set up a showdown for the championship against Carlos Alcaraz.

The No. 1-ranked Sinner’s victory at Centre Court put him in his first final at the All England Club.

No. 2 Alcaraz defeated Taylor Fritz 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (6) earlier Friday to move within one victory of a third consecutive Wimbledon title.

Sinner, a 23-year-old Italian, and Alcaraz, a 22-year-old Spaniard, now head into a rematch of their epic final at the French Open four weeks ago. Alcaraz won that one after fending off three match points.

“Hopefully it’s going to be a good match, like the last one,” Sinner said. “I don’t know if it’ll get better, because I don’t think it’s possible.”

Alcaraz is 5-0in Grand Slam title matches. Sinner owns three major trophies.

They are far and away the leaders of men’s tennis — and are at the height of their games right now. This will be the seventh straight major tournament won by one of them.

“The things we are doing right now are great for tennis,” Alcaraz said.

Alcaraz takes a career-best 24-match winning streak into Sunday. Sinner will be participating in his fourth consecutive Grand Slam final, after winning the U.S. Open last September and the Australian Open in January, before his heartbreaking defeat in Paris after wasting a two-set lead.

For the 38-year-old Djokovic, his lopsided loss brought an end to his latest bid for an eighth Wimbledon title — which would tie the men’s mark held by Roger Federer — and for an unprecedented 25th major trophy.

Djokovic was diminished two days after slipping and doing the splits on what he called a “nasty” and “awkward” fall in the last game of his quarterfinal victory. He canceled a practice session Thursday, had his upper left leg checked by a trainer during a medical timeout after the second set against Sinner and was simply unable to move the way the world is so used to seeing.

Right after that treatment, Djokovic grabbed a 3-0 lead in the third set and was a point from going up 4-0. But Sinner took six of the remaining seven games.

“We all saw, especially in the third set, that he was a bit injured,” Sinner said. “He’s been in a very difficult situation.”

When it ended, Djokovic picked up his equipment bags and was given a standing ovation as he headed toward the locker room. He paused to smile, wave and give a thumbs-up to the crowd.

Djokovic exited in the semifinals at all three Slams this season, including quitting after a set against Alexander Zverev because of an injured hamstring at the Australian Open.

There was more intrigue in Friday’s first semifinal, particularly when Fritz led 6-4 in the fourth-set tiebreake with two chances to force things to a fifth. But Alcaraz collected the next four points by forcing mistakes by Fritz to finish off the win, then rocked back on his heels, spread his arms wide and screamed.

“I’m just really proud about the way that I stayed calm,” Alcaraz said, “and (was) thinking clearly.”

With five-time Wimbledon champion Bjorn Borg and celebrities such as Anna Wintour and Leonardo DiCaprio looking on, Alcaraz marked some of his best shots with a shout of “Vamos!” or a raised index finger.

“A lot of the things that I would have changed, I think would have only helped me for a point or two, and then I think Carlos would have just made an adjustment,” said the fifth-seeded Fritz, the runner-up to Sinner at the U.S. Open, “and I don’t think it would have been a long-term answer.”

The temperature topped 85 degrees Fahrenheit, with no clouds interrupting the blue sky overhead to offer protection from the sun. For the second consecutive day, spectators had trouble in the heat; there were two brief delays in one second-set game while fans needed to be helped.

As everyone paying attention — including Sinner — knows by now, Alcaraz is not just any foe.

“He has so many different ways to win,” Fritz said, “and he’s very good at making adjustments.”

LONDON — At least Novak Djokovic could laugh about it afterward.

Yes, he took what he called a “nasty slip” on his second match point at Wimbledon on Wednesday. Yes, he slid into the splits and ended up face-down on the Centre Court grass. And, yes, those sorts of things aren’t ideal for a 38-year-old seeking an unprecedented 25th Grand Slam title.

Still, Djokovic dusted himself off and took the next two points, reaching the semifinals at the All England Club for a men’s-record 14th time with a 6-7 (6), 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 victory over No. 22 seed Flavio Cobolli to set up a showdown against No. 1 Jannik Sinner.

“Well, I finished the match,” Djokovic said with a chuckle. “It did come at an awkward moment, but somehow I managed to … close it out. Obviously, I’m going to visit this subject now with my physio and hopefully all will be well in two days.”

That’s when he will take on three-time major champion Sinner, who didn’t play like someone dealing with an injured right elbow while using terrific serving and his usual booming forehand to beat 10th-seeded Ben Shelton 7-6 (2), 6-4, 6-4.

“I look forward to that,” said Djokovic, who has lost his last four meetings with Sinner, including in the French Open semifinals last month. “That’s going to be a great matchup.”

Novak Djokovic lies on the grass court after slipping and falling while attempting to return a shot Wednesday.

(Kin Cheung / Associated Press)

Djokovic is 2-0 against Sinner at Wimbledon, eliminating him in the 2023 semifinals and 2022 quarterfinals.

Against Cobolli — like Sinner, a 23-year-old from Italy — the late-match tumble was not the only thing that was far from smooth for Djokovic. He served for the opening set at 5-3 but was broken at love. He later was a point from owning that set before first-time major quarterfinalist Cobolli came through.

Djokovic did stretches and breathing exercises at changeovers. He whacked his shoe with his racket after one miss in the fourth set. He seemed bothered at times by the bright sun above Centre Court.

He also showed off all of his considerable skills, accumulating 13 aces, holding in 19 of 21 service games, using a drop-shot-lob-drop-shot combination to take one point and limiting his unforced errors to 22 — half as many as Cobolli.

On Friday, Djokovic will try to reach his seventh consecutive final at the All England Club and get one win closer to equaling Roger Federer’s men’s mark of eight trophies there. The other men’s semifinal is two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz, who defeated Djokovic in the 2023 and 2024 finals, against Taylor Fritz.

Against Shelton at No. 1 Court, Sinner wore a white sleeve on his right arm with strips of tape visible underneath — one above the elbow, one below it — after he was hurt when he fell in the opening game of his fourth-round match against Grigor Dimitrov on Monday.

Sinner, the runner-up to Alcaraz at Roland-Garros, had an MRI exam on Tuesday and initially canceled a practice session that day but did hit some balls in a 20-minute session at an indoor court later.

“When you are in a match with a lot of tension, you try to not think about it,” Sinner said. “It has improved a lot from yesterday to today.”

He played as though nothing were amiss, winning 27 of 29 service points in the first set while accumulating a total of 15 winners to just one unforced error.

“You can’t go into a match thinking that the guy’s not going to be at 100%,” Shelton said. “His ball was coming off pretty big today, so I didn’t see any difference.”

Shelton stayed right with him until 2-all in the tiebreaker. That’s when Sinner surged in front, helped by a double fault and four consecutive forehand errors by Shelton.

At the outset of the second set, Shelton finally made some headway in a return game, getting a pair of break points at 15-40.

On one, Sinner produced a forehand winner. On the other, he pounded a 132 mph serve — his fastest of the match — and rushed forward, getting to deuce when Shelton’s backhand pass attempt found the net. That was followed by a 118 mph ace and a 125 mph service winner.

Those were Shelton’s only break chances.

A first for Swiatek

Iga Swiatek reached the Wimbledon semifinals for the first time with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over 19th-seeded Liudmila Samsonova that went from a stroll to a bit of a struggle in the late stages Wednesday.

“Even though I’m in the middle of the tournament, I already got goosebumps after this win,” said Swiatek, who will face unseeded Belinda Bencic on Thursday for a spot in the final. “I’m super happy and super proud of myself.”

Bencic beat No. 7 Mirra Andreeva 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2) to reach her first Grand Slam semifinal since the 2019 U.S. Open. The other semifinal is No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka against No. 13 Amanda Anisimova; they advanced with wins Tuesday.