Is there a difference between being the greatest player of all time and the greatest player at winning? The ‘GOAT’ can have a certain degree of subjectivity – childhood memories associated with them, their style of play, their personality on court, simply how much you like them that moves the needle on their greatness in your own eyes.
Being the greatest winner of all time is a lot more objective, a lot colder, can be proven with numbers, and is more or less settled as a debate at any given time. When it comes to men’s tennis, there is only one name that sits alone at the top, and it is that of Novak Djokovic.
Into the Australian Open 2026 final and gunning for a record-extending 11th Australian Open and 25th grand slam title in Sunday’s final against Carlos Alcaraz, Djokovic held off the two-time defending champion Jannik Sinner in a gargantuan battle across five sets, roaring back to win the final two sets with some of the clutchest tennis of his career at age 38.
It was arguably this match that proves the Serb’s credentials as the greatest winner, perhaps more than any single other match in his career. Yes, there are the iconic 2012 Australian Open and 2019 Wimbledon finals against Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer respectively, but Djokovic entered those matches as the favourite – not so here.
Sinner’s statistical dominance over Djokovic…
Against Sinner, 14 years younger than him and having reached five grand slam finals in a row, Djokovic entered the match odds-on to lose in straight sets. And if you read just the face-value stats from the game, that is very much how it played out.
Take a look at this. Sinner and Djokovic both had 42 unforced errors throughout the five sets. Sinner, however, had 72 winners – far more than Djokovic’s 46. Sinner also hammered 26 aces, the most in any match in his career by far, compared to Djokovic’s 12. He won 80% of points when he made his first serve, compared to 71% for Djokovic.
These are big, big gaps – the kind of difference in quality that Sinner showed as he beat Djokovic five times in a row heading into this contest, including at the French Open and Wimbledon semifinals last year. Nine times out of ten against most other opponents, Sinner wins this match.
But Djokovic won when it counted most
But against Djokovic, even that much isn’t enough. Sinner generated 18 break point opportunities over the course of the match; under the highest pressure, in situations where any mistake would have handed the Italian a spot in a third consecutive Melbourne Park final, Djokovic saved a scarcely believable SIXTEEN of them.
Djokovic’s greatest superpower is that he is the finest exponent of blink-first tennis in the history of the sport. He faces opposition who can hit a high calibre of shots with a high degree consistency – but Djokovic can enter a state of mind where he will simply not miss or give up an unforced error.
Equally, his stamina and fitness means that even at the age of 38, he can outlast his opponents deep into matches, and ensure his excellent defence means he cannot be hit through. In the fourth and fifth sets on Rod Laver Arena, Djokovic hit 16 unforced errors, but Sinner made 17. More significantly, he was able to hit 27 winners, but limit Sinner’s bazooka groundstrokes to just 31 – more, yes, but a small enough difference that a moment of coldblooded steel was enough to seal it.
Ice-cold fifth set performance seals the unlikely
Let’s zoom in on that deciding fifth set – a set where Sinner actually won more points. But the break points tell the whole story: Sinner had as many as eight break points in the fifth alone, scattered across three different Djokovic service games. Through a combination of loose errors and Djokovic heightening his level when it mattered most, the Italian failed to convert even one.
And the flipside. With Sinner serving at 3-3, Djokovic gets his solitary break point of the set at advantage. That’s all he needs: as the greatest returner in the history of the sport has done throughout his career, he deadens the powerful Sinner serve with a backhand return that lands at Sinner’s feet.
Engaged in a rally, Djokovic asks the question again – who will blink first? Sinner does with a forehand that flies wide into the tramlines. And that is all that Novak needed.
