Tracy Austin predicts how fit both Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner will be for their Wimbledon semi-final match

Both Sinner and Djokovic have had to overcome similar adversities during this year’s championships. Sinner suffered a fall against Grigor Dimitrov in his fourth round match, sparking concerns regarding an elbow injury.

Djokovic suffered a ‘nasty’ fall during one of his match points against Flavio Cobolli in the quarter-finals. The Serbian player provided a fitness update after the match.

Ahead of their quarter-final match, former Wimbledon champion Tracy Austin discussed Djokovic’s chances against Sinner, describing the occasion as the ‘match of the rest of his career.’

Tracy Austin is ‘concerned’ for Novak Djokovic ahead of Jannik Sinner clash

Tracy Austin, speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live on Thursday, said: “You see that all the time [the slip]. That happened to me at Eastbourne, and I had to actually retire at Eastbourne. It’s the worst feeling for a tennis player because all of a sudden you’re into the point and then you’re in the middle of a fall and you have zero control.

“It was nasty, and to me sometimes it’s the knee, sometimes it’s the hip – it looked like the groin to me for Novak.

“I am concerned. There is a concern because this is the match of the rest of his career. He’s 38 years old, and we know that his motivation is to win his 25th major.

“25th major [and] I think the best place for him to win it is on grass here. When he comes back healthy, at 39, is he going to be better than he is at 38? Don’t think so. Are Sinner and Alcaraz going to be better? Probably so.

“So this is it. This is the match. There’s not many matches where you say this is the match where you feel like probably that match against Medvedev at the US Open when he was (on for a) calendar year Grand Slam, didn’t play his best but, [at] the Olympics last year, we probably thought that’s the last Olympics he’s going to play. It was missing from his resume, the gold medal.

“Played the match of his life, played such a great level [in the 2024 Olympic Gold Medal Match]. I feel like this is a third match for Novak. There’s so many, I could probably say 100, but this one is it. He’s got to play top level against Sinner. Sinner’s elbow looked good all except for one moment receiving a huge serve from Ben where [he] kind of mishit, there was a little vibration.

“So they’re both going in a little bit compromised, possibly physically, and if there is a surface that Novak’s going to beat Sinner on, I think it would be grass. He’s [a] seven-time champion and [for] Sinner this would be his least favourite surface, so I’d want to be on a couch somewhere watching every single point of that match because there’s so much history on the line.”

Jannik Sinner’s superior head-to-head record over Novak Djokovic

Despite losing the first three matches they played on the ATP Tour, Jannik Sinner holds a superior head-to-head record over Novak Djokovic.

The Italian leads the Serbian player by five wins to four, last winning at the semi-final stage of the French Open, 6-4 7-5 7-6.

Their first match was played at the Monte-Carlo Masters in 2021, with Djokovic triumphing 6-4 6-2. Djokovic went on to defeat Sinner at Wimbledon in 2022 and 2023 before losing to the Italian for the first time at the 2023 ATP Tour Finals.

Remarkably, Djokovic returned to winning ways against Sinner in the same tournament, winning in the final.

However, Djokovic has failed to win any of his last four matches against Sinner, losing in the 2023 Davis Cup Finals, the 2024 Australian Open, the 2024 Shanghai Masters and the 2025 French Open.