Novak Djokovic owes his impressive comeback against Jannik Sinner in large part to the pep talk he gave himself during the toilet break. According to the number two in the world, that was the starting point of his resurrection in the quarterfinal match at Wimbledon.
“The toilet break was the turning point. I withdrew for a while to freshen up and go to the toilet. There I had a short pep talk with myself in front of the mirror,” said Djokovic, who started to play visibly better from the third set on. the Center Court.
In the first two sets, Djokovic made many unnecessary mistakes against Sinner, who in turn played with guts and conviction. The Serb put things in order from the third set, won three sets in a row and thus qualified for the semi-finals.
“Sinner was clearly the better player in the first two sets,” said Djokovic. “He went into the game feeling that he didn’t have much to lose. But when he got the two sets lead, it changed. That makes it very different mentally.”
Relief at Novak Djokovic.
Relief at Novak Djokovic.
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Comeback reminds Djokovic of Roland Garros final
Djokovic’s comeback reminded the Serb of his win at Roland Garros in 2021 against Stéfanos Tsitsipás. He also lost the first two sets, but still took the win.
“I did exactly the same at the time,” said Djokovic. “It worked well then and today it worked again. But I can assure you that it doesn’t always work. There is absolutely no guarantee that it will bring success.”
“You have such a negative feeling at such a moment and then positive texts don’t really seem to come in. But it really works. By giving yourself courage and looking for positive things, you can get a kind of renewed energy.”
Partly thanks to the comeback against Sinner, Djokovic is still in the running for his first Grand Slam title in a year. The defending champion and six-time winner of Wimbledon will face home player Cameron Norrie in the semi-final on Thursday.
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