Including doubles, Sinner defeats Djokovic three times in 11 days

Jannik Sinner’s finish to the 2023 tennis season was quite simply historic.

Sinner was runner-up in front of the home crowd in Turin, Italy at the Nitto ATP Finals, compiling a 4-1 record for the week with wins over Stefanos Tsitsipas, Novak Djokovic, Holger Rune, and Daniil Medvedev. He then led the Italians to their first Davis Cup title since 1976, going 3-0 in singles and 2-0 in doubles in Malaga, Spain.

Although Sinner lost to Djokovic in the Turin final, the 22-year-old bounced back to beat Djokovic in the Davis Cup semis–from triple match point down, too. Sinner (with Lorenzo Sonego) also toppled Djokovic (with Miomir Kecmanovic) in the decisive doubles rubber of that semifinal tie between Italy and Serbia.

In total, Sinner won three matches against Djokovic in the span of 11 days.

Obviously not are things are equal. Rafael Nadal missed basically all of 2023, Roger Federer retired in 2022, and Andy Murray has been hurt off and on since 2017.

Still, the point remains: winning three tennis matches against Djokovic is an amazing feat–no matter the time span. Beating him three times in 11 days is nothing short of incredible.

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.