Novak Djokovic beat Jannik Sinner 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(4) in the Wimbledon semi-final, 2023 on grass
Djokovic, who had won the last 4 editions of the event, would go onto lose the final to Carlos Alcaraz. This was Sinner’s first Slam semi-final. The two had met in the quarter-final the previous year, with Djokovic winning from 2 sets to love down en route to the title
Djokovic won 106 points, Sinner 96
Serve Stats
Djokovic...
- 1st serve percentage (65/112) 58%
- 1st serve points won (49/65) 75%
- 2nd serve points won (28/47) 60%
- Aces 11 (1 second serve), Service Winners 1
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (33/112) 29%
Sinner...
- 1st serve percentage (54/90) 60%
- 1st serve points won (41/54) 76%
- 2nd serve points won (20/36) 56%
- Aces 8
- Double Faults 3
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (22/90) 24%
Serve Pattern
Djokovic served...
- to FH 45%
- to BH 52%
- to Body 4%
Sinner served...
- to FH 32%
- to BH 54%
- to Body 14%
Return Stats
Djokovic made...
- 65 (29 FH, 36 BH)
- 1 Winner (1 BH)
- 14 Errors, comprising...
- 4 Unforced (1 FH, 3 BH)
- 10 Forced (3 FH, 7 BH)
- Return Rate (65/87) 75%
Sinner made...
- 79 (32 FH, 47 BH), including 1 runaround FH & 1 return-approach
- 2 Winners (2 BH)
- 21 Errors, comprising...
- 7 Unforced (4 FH, 3 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 14 Forced (9 FH, 5 BH)
- Return Rate (79/112) 71%
Break Points
Djokovic 2/9 (4 games)
Sinner 0/6 (4 games)
Winners (including returns, excluding aces)
Djokovic 20 (9 FH, 4 BH, 6 FHV, 1 OH)
Sinner 35 (22 FH, 6 BH, 4 FHV, 1 BHV, 2 OH)
Djokovic's FHs - 3 cc, 1 dtl pass, 3 inside-out, 2 running-down-drop-shot at net (1 dtl, 1 lob)
- BHs - 1 cc, 2 dtl passes (1 return), 1 drop shot
- 1 FHV was a non-net, swinging longline
Sinner's FHs - 3 cc (1 at net), 2 cc/inside-in, 8 dtl (4 passes), 4 inside-out (1 with Djokovic on the floor), 1 inside-out/dtl, 2 inside-in, 1 longline, 1 drop shot
- BHs - 1 cc pass, 5 dtl (2 returns, 1 at net)
- 1 from a serve-volley point, a first volley FHV
- 1 other FHV was a swinging inside-out
Errors (excluding returns and serves)
Djokovic 39
- 24 Unforced (11 FH, 12 BH)
- 15 Forced (6 FH, 7 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV)
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 46.1
Sinner 50
- 37 Unforced (22 FH, 15 BH)
- 13 Forced (7 FH, 5 BH, 1 FH1/2V)
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 46.5
(Note 0: Djokovic's Hindrance UE has been excluded from his UEFI score)
(Note 1: all half-volleys refer to such shots played at net. Half -volleys played from other parts of the court are included within relevant groundstroke counts)
(Note 2: the Unforced Error Forcefulness Index is an indicator of how aggressive the average UE was. The numbers presented are keyed on 4 categories - 20 defensive, 40 neutral, 50 attacking and 60 winner attempt)
Net Points & Serve-Volley
Djokovic was 12/21 (57%) at net, with...
- 0/1 retreated
Sinner was...
- 16/22 (73%) at net, including...
- 2/4 (50%) serve-volleying, all 1st serves
---
- 1/1 return-approaching
Match Report
Who-plays-the-big-points-better match and one of the those lovely grass court straight setters that could just as readily have been straight sets the other way. Both players are on top of their games and both play very well. Djokovic’s biggest weapons are his first serve, and he backs it up with masterful, clinical but flexible ground game. Sinner scores with some heavy returning and is even more powerful off the ground, while being more adventurous, if not as masterful. Only thing between the players are those ‘big-points’, on which sparkling FH lets him down
First serve in - Djoko 58%, Sinner 60%
First serve won - Djoko 75%, Sinner 76%
Second serve won - Djoko 60%, Sinner 56%
Can you tell who won the match looking at that?
Sinner wins 6 more points than he serves, Djoko 6 less. There are no outlier long games (2 longest games of match last 10 points). Any closer to being able to tell who won the match from now?
Break points - Djoko 2/9, Sinner 0/6 with both having them in 4 games. The ‘big points’ thing
Djoko does break early in sets - he goes up 2-0 in first set and 2-1 in second with his breaks - but doesn’t ease up in return games afterwards to account for Sinner holding readily rest of time
He’s got worse of the regular part of third set and is down 1-3 in tiebreak courtesy of a banged return winner by Sinner. Rare double fault turns that around and Sinner falters after that to go down in straights
Enough of a falter that word ‘choke’ isn’t unfair take, a cluster ground UEs off both wings
As for rest of match -
- he has 2 break points in opening game, losing 1 to FH UE
- he’s broken game after, missing 3 FHs in a row to round off game (the last against a deep ball, admittedly)
- he has1 more break point in the set, where he misses a FH cc winner attempt
- in second set, is broken on a FH UE, and misses inside-in FH winner attempt on break point game after after outplaying Djoko to reach that position
- has 2 both break points of third set, misses adventurous FH cc winner attempt on second one
Sinner’s FH has by far match high 22 winners - more than Djoko’s all shot total of 20 and almost double the 13 rest of his shots have. Also match high 22 UEs, up against powerful opposition of Djoko’s rock solid shot which has half that number. And clearly, at disproportionate lot of them at most crucial times
That’s zooming in. Big picture is even match, 2 equally (and very well) playing guys - and 1 guy has better of small number of big points to win in straights. Not too rare for grass
Djoko with 20 winners, 24 UEs (and forcing 13 errors), Sinner 35 winners, 37 UEs (and forcing 15 errors). Very good stuff
Most unusual thing to happen is Djoko incurring a hindrance call to lose a point. It’s a good call. Djoko lets out a roar as he strikes an error forcing BH dtl. ‘After he strikes’ to be more accurate. Its more a celebratory roar than an effort-shot grunt. Not too important a point, he wasn’t grunting in general around this time. No real reason for the roar, shot would very likely have ended point anyway, but not so surely that Chair’s Call isn’t the right one. He gets a warning for taking too long to serve in same game shortly after too, which is again, fully deserved. That’s a great Chair
Serve & Return
Both return well in different ways (Djoko shining more in difficult returns, Sinner in big cut attacking returning), and serving quality is close to equal. Combo of the two result in razors edge advantage for Djoko
First serve in - Djoko 58%, Sinner 60%
Aces/Service Winners - Djoko 12 (1 a second serve), Sinner 8
First serve ace/SW rate - Djoko 17%, Sinner 15%
Not much in it. And Sinner’s not as good at moving for wide returns goes some way to accounting for slightly better rate of aces for Djoko. 3 of Djoko’s aces come in a row in same game, which is good to win the game obviously, but its worth just 1 game so so slightly distorting how above stats look
Both with healthy paced serves. Sinner’s probably a bit pacier, but its splitting hairs; Call it equal
Djoko placing the serves better, wider. Occasionally very wide and lower pace, while Sinner bangs down pacey serves all the time
On the return, Djoko quicker to meet, tough wide serves. When Sinner bangs down an especially big, effort serve, Djoko invariably thumps it back seemingly even harder than it came. Sinner’s troubled more by wide serves and doesn't seem to have a read direction
Proportion of return UEs and FEs are virtually same - both with 2 FEs for every UE (Literally true for Sinner, 1 UE short of it for Djoko)
Sinner’s more aggressive returning second serves.
Djoko with personal par returning - good depth on first returns, some lot of very deep, down-the-middle ones against second serves. All clinically done
Sinner’s more pointed in looking to attack second serves. Stepping in and particularly hammering them early and within inches off the baseline. And not down the center like Djoko, but wide on top of that
He’s got couple of return winners (Djoko’s sole one is a pass), and plenty more potentially point ending ones. Djoko does very well to chase and dig such returns out
Djoko second serve vs Sinner return becomes a tasty, strategic contest. Djoko occasionally sending down a big one and serving at the body, but usually, just a normal second serve. And Sinner not holding back
7 Djoko second serves don’t come back (including an ace and a wide one marked an FE), so 15% second serves unreturned.
4 Sinner ones don’t too (1 marked FE), so 11%
Extra damage done by Sinner’s return is probably worth 4% balance there. It would be more than worth it if Djoko weren’t so good at digging out defensive third balls, and purely in serve-return contest, Sinner’s second returning might even give him edge (bearing in mind, Djoko’s not exactly blocking and pushing returns softly)
Both players have done very well to win such a high lot of second serve points, given the hot returning on show
Double faults - Djoko 0, Sinner 3 or 8% of second serves
Every little bit helps and no double faults for Djoko is one of those things. And with everything so close, more important still
The final word comes in pure numbers - unreturned serves - Djoko 29%, Sinner 24%
Throw in 3 double faults, and Djoko winning a significant lot more points with serve, but there’s not much in any of it - serving quality or returning quality
Gist - Djoko placing serves a little better, Sinner with a bit more pace on the first shot
Djoko better at making tough returns (against particular pace or wide ones), Sinner more aggressive in attacking with the second returning
No double faults from Djoko, small would-be insignificant from Sinner
Little in it. Djoko getting a few more points out of the whole thing
Djokovic, who had won the last 4 editions of the event, would go onto lose the final to Carlos Alcaraz. This was Sinner’s first Slam semi-final. The two had met in the quarter-final the previous year, with Djokovic winning from 2 sets to love down en route to the title
Djokovic won 106 points, Sinner 96
Serve Stats
Djokovic...
- 1st serve percentage (65/112) 58%
- 1st serve points won (49/65) 75%
- 2nd serve points won (28/47) 60%
- Aces 11 (1 second serve), Service Winners 1
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (33/112) 29%
Sinner...
- 1st serve percentage (54/90) 60%
- 1st serve points won (41/54) 76%
- 2nd serve points won (20/36) 56%
- Aces 8
- Double Faults 3
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (22/90) 24%
Serve Pattern
Djokovic served...
- to FH 45%
- to BH 52%
- to Body 4%
Sinner served...
- to FH 32%
- to BH 54%
- to Body 14%
Return Stats
Djokovic made...
- 65 (29 FH, 36 BH)
- 1 Winner (1 BH)
- 14 Errors, comprising...
- 4 Unforced (1 FH, 3 BH)
- 10 Forced (3 FH, 7 BH)
- Return Rate (65/87) 75%
Sinner made...
- 79 (32 FH, 47 BH), including 1 runaround FH & 1 return-approach
- 2 Winners (2 BH)
- 21 Errors, comprising...
- 7 Unforced (4 FH, 3 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 14 Forced (9 FH, 5 BH)
- Return Rate (79/112) 71%
Break Points
Djokovic 2/9 (4 games)
Sinner 0/6 (4 games)
Winners (including returns, excluding aces)
Djokovic 20 (9 FH, 4 BH, 6 FHV, 1 OH)
Sinner 35 (22 FH, 6 BH, 4 FHV, 1 BHV, 2 OH)
Djokovic's FHs - 3 cc, 1 dtl pass, 3 inside-out, 2 running-down-drop-shot at net (1 dtl, 1 lob)
- BHs - 1 cc, 2 dtl passes (1 return), 1 drop shot
- 1 FHV was a non-net, swinging longline
Sinner's FHs - 3 cc (1 at net), 2 cc/inside-in, 8 dtl (4 passes), 4 inside-out (1 with Djokovic on the floor), 1 inside-out/dtl, 2 inside-in, 1 longline, 1 drop shot
- BHs - 1 cc pass, 5 dtl (2 returns, 1 at net)
- 1 from a serve-volley point, a first volley FHV
- 1 other FHV was a swinging inside-out
Errors (excluding returns and serves)
Djokovic 39
- 24 Unforced (11 FH, 12 BH)
- 15 Forced (6 FH, 7 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV)
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 46.1
Sinner 50
- 37 Unforced (22 FH, 15 BH)
- 13 Forced (7 FH, 5 BH, 1 FH1/2V)
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 46.5
(Note 0: Djokovic's Hindrance UE has been excluded from his UEFI score)
(Note 1: all half-volleys refer to such shots played at net. Half -volleys played from other parts of the court are included within relevant groundstroke counts)
(Note 2: the Unforced Error Forcefulness Index is an indicator of how aggressive the average UE was. The numbers presented are keyed on 4 categories - 20 defensive, 40 neutral, 50 attacking and 60 winner attempt)
Net Points & Serve-Volley
Djokovic was 12/21 (57%) at net, with...
- 0/1 retreated
Sinner was...
- 16/22 (73%) at net, including...
- 2/4 (50%) serve-volleying, all 1st serves
---
- 1/1 return-approaching
Match Report
Who-plays-the-big-points-better match and one of the those lovely grass court straight setters that could just as readily have been straight sets the other way. Both players are on top of their games and both play very well. Djokovic’s biggest weapons are his first serve, and he backs it up with masterful, clinical but flexible ground game. Sinner scores with some heavy returning and is even more powerful off the ground, while being more adventurous, if not as masterful. Only thing between the players are those ‘big-points’, on which sparkling FH lets him down
First serve in - Djoko 58%, Sinner 60%
First serve won - Djoko 75%, Sinner 76%
Second serve won - Djoko 60%, Sinner 56%
Can you tell who won the match looking at that?
Sinner wins 6 more points than he serves, Djoko 6 less. There are no outlier long games (2 longest games of match last 10 points). Any closer to being able to tell who won the match from now?
Break points - Djoko 2/9, Sinner 0/6 with both having them in 4 games. The ‘big points’ thing
Djoko does break early in sets - he goes up 2-0 in first set and 2-1 in second with his breaks - but doesn’t ease up in return games afterwards to account for Sinner holding readily rest of time
He’s got worse of the regular part of third set and is down 1-3 in tiebreak courtesy of a banged return winner by Sinner. Rare double fault turns that around and Sinner falters after that to go down in straights
Enough of a falter that word ‘choke’ isn’t unfair take, a cluster ground UEs off both wings
As for rest of match -
- he has 2 break points in opening game, losing 1 to FH UE
- he’s broken game after, missing 3 FHs in a row to round off game (the last against a deep ball, admittedly)
- he has1 more break point in the set, where he misses a FH cc winner attempt
- in second set, is broken on a FH UE, and misses inside-in FH winner attempt on break point game after after outplaying Djoko to reach that position
- has 2 both break points of third set, misses adventurous FH cc winner attempt on second one
Sinner’s FH has by far match high 22 winners - more than Djoko’s all shot total of 20 and almost double the 13 rest of his shots have. Also match high 22 UEs, up against powerful opposition of Djoko’s rock solid shot which has half that number. And clearly, at disproportionate lot of them at most crucial times
That’s zooming in. Big picture is even match, 2 equally (and very well) playing guys - and 1 guy has better of small number of big points to win in straights. Not too rare for grass
Djoko with 20 winners, 24 UEs (and forcing 13 errors), Sinner 35 winners, 37 UEs (and forcing 15 errors). Very good stuff
Most unusual thing to happen is Djoko incurring a hindrance call to lose a point. It’s a good call. Djoko lets out a roar as he strikes an error forcing BH dtl. ‘After he strikes’ to be more accurate. Its more a celebratory roar than an effort-shot grunt. Not too important a point, he wasn’t grunting in general around this time. No real reason for the roar, shot would very likely have ended point anyway, but not so surely that Chair’s Call isn’t the right one. He gets a warning for taking too long to serve in same game shortly after too, which is again, fully deserved. That’s a great Chair
Serve & Return
Both return well in different ways (Djoko shining more in difficult returns, Sinner in big cut attacking returning), and serving quality is close to equal. Combo of the two result in razors edge advantage for Djoko
First serve in - Djoko 58%, Sinner 60%
Aces/Service Winners - Djoko 12 (1 a second serve), Sinner 8
First serve ace/SW rate - Djoko 17%, Sinner 15%
Not much in it. And Sinner’s not as good at moving for wide returns goes some way to accounting for slightly better rate of aces for Djoko. 3 of Djoko’s aces come in a row in same game, which is good to win the game obviously, but its worth just 1 game so so slightly distorting how above stats look
Both with healthy paced serves. Sinner’s probably a bit pacier, but its splitting hairs; Call it equal
Djoko placing the serves better, wider. Occasionally very wide and lower pace, while Sinner bangs down pacey serves all the time
On the return, Djoko quicker to meet, tough wide serves. When Sinner bangs down an especially big, effort serve, Djoko invariably thumps it back seemingly even harder than it came. Sinner’s troubled more by wide serves and doesn't seem to have a read direction
Proportion of return UEs and FEs are virtually same - both with 2 FEs for every UE (Literally true for Sinner, 1 UE short of it for Djoko)
Sinner’s more aggressive returning second serves.
Djoko with personal par returning - good depth on first returns, some lot of very deep, down-the-middle ones against second serves. All clinically done
Sinner’s more pointed in looking to attack second serves. Stepping in and particularly hammering them early and within inches off the baseline. And not down the center like Djoko, but wide on top of that
He’s got couple of return winners (Djoko’s sole one is a pass), and plenty more potentially point ending ones. Djoko does very well to chase and dig such returns out
Djoko second serve vs Sinner return becomes a tasty, strategic contest. Djoko occasionally sending down a big one and serving at the body, but usually, just a normal second serve. And Sinner not holding back
7 Djoko second serves don’t come back (including an ace and a wide one marked an FE), so 15% second serves unreturned.
4 Sinner ones don’t too (1 marked FE), so 11%
Extra damage done by Sinner’s return is probably worth 4% balance there. It would be more than worth it if Djoko weren’t so good at digging out defensive third balls, and purely in serve-return contest, Sinner’s second returning might even give him edge (bearing in mind, Djoko’s not exactly blocking and pushing returns softly)
Both players have done very well to win such a high lot of second serve points, given the hot returning on show
Double faults - Djoko 0, Sinner 3 or 8% of second serves
Every little bit helps and no double faults for Djoko is one of those things. And with everything so close, more important still
The final word comes in pure numbers - unreturned serves - Djoko 29%, Sinner 24%
Throw in 3 double faults, and Djoko winning a significant lot more points with serve, but there’s not much in any of it - serving quality or returning quality
Gist - Djoko placing serves a little better, Sinner with a bit more pace on the first shot
Djoko better at making tough returns (against particular pace or wide ones), Sinner more aggressive in attacking with the second returning
No double faults from Djoko, small would-be insignificant from Sinner
Little in it. Djoko getting a few more points out of the whole thing