Jannik Sinner will have to get through seven-time champion Novak Djokovic in the semifinals for a chance to defend his Wimbledon title.
It’s the 12th meeting between the two players. Sinner leads their head-to-head 6-5, but Djokovic won their most recent meeting in the Australian Open semifinals in five sets. That ended a five-match streak in Sinner’s favour between the two.
Sinner defeated Djokovic in straight sets in last year’s Wimbledon semi-final. He went on to win his first title at the All England Club, beating Carlos Alcaraz in four sets in the final.
Sinner needed five sets to get past Miomir Kecmanovic in the first round this year. He hasn’t dropped a set in any of his subsequent matches. However, Djokovic is the first seeded player Sinner will face.
Djokovic is coming off a marathon five-set win over Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime in the quarter-finals. The match, lasting 5 hours and 15 minutes, is the longest quarter-final match in Wimbledon history.
His only straight-set win was in the second round against Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Djokovic could become the first player, male or female to win 25 Grand Slams. He could also match Roger Federer’s record at Wimbledon by winning his eighth title.
Both players are coming off a disappointing Roland Garros. With two-time defending champion Alcaraz out with an injury, Sinner seemed primed to complete a career Grand Slam by winning his fifth slam. However. Juan Manuel Cerundolo completed a shocking upset over Sinner in the second round.
With both Sinner and Alcaraz out, Djokovic had an opportunity to win his record-setting 25th. He lost the day after Sinner in the third round against Joao Fonseca.
Zverev chases back-to-back slams, Fery tries to continue fairytale run
Alcaraz’s injury, along with the upsets to Sinner and Djokovic at Roland Garros, cleared the way for Alexander Zverev to win his first Grand Slam title.
Zverev defeated Flavio Cobolli in five sets to win his first slam title in his fourth finals appearance.
He has already surpassed his best result at Wimbledon. His previous best result was the fourth round, which he achieved on three occasions (2017, 2021, and 2024).
Zverev snapped a seven-match losing streak to Taylor Fritz in the quarter-finals, though Fritz was struggling with a knee injury. Still, Zverev has only dropped one set during his run to the semis, in the first round against Alexander Blockx.
Zverev is the two-seed at Wimbledon, but he’s third in the ATP rankings. If he were to advance to the finals, he would most past Alcaraz into second and match his career-best ranking.
Arthur Fery has had a fairytale run to the Wimbledon semifinal.
The 23-year-old wild-card entry grew up about a mile away from the All England Club. Now, he’s just the fifth British man to make the semi-finals at Wimbledon in the Open era.
Fery advanced to the semifinals with a straight-sets win over Roland Garros finalist Cobolli. Prior to this tournament, he’d won two main-draw matches in major tournaments.
He would be the second British man to advance to the Wimbledon finals in the Open era. Andy Murray won two Wimbledon titles (2013 and 2016) and played in three finals.
Fery entered the tournament at 114th in the ATP rankings. Even if he were to lose to Zverev, he would jump to 36. He would move up to 26th with a win over Zverev and 13th if he won the title. Regardless of the result of Friday’s match, Fery will be the top-ranked British man following the tournament.
