'I wouldn't dare': Novak Djokovic disputes legend's appraisal, says doubters 'gave me strength'

Novak Djokovic sounded off on "experts" who suggested he retire and disagreed with John McEnroe's assessment that his win over Jannik Sinner on Friday was his best ever.

The 38-year-old rolled back the years with a vintage display to down the double defending champion in a five-set thriller and set up a final against Carlos Alcaraz, giving him the chance to land a first grand slam title since September 2023.

Djokovic conceded he was lucky to even get to the semi-finals. He narrowly missed hitting a ball girl with a reckless swipe in the third round to be almost defaulted from the tournament, got a walkover in the fourth round, and felt he was heading home in the quarter-finals when he trailed Lorenzo Musetti by two sets until the Italian retired with an injured right leg.

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Djokovic hadn't won a set since the third round but against Sinner, the two-time defending champion, Djokovic was at the peak of his attacking and defensive powers.

He fended off 16 of the 18 breakpoints he faced and stifled Sinner's opportunities. It ended a run of five losses to Sinner, and a run of four semi-final exits for Djokovic at the majors.

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"I never stopped believing in myself, you know. There's a lot of people that doubt me. I see there is a lot of experts all of a sudden that wanted to retire me or have retired me many times the last couple of years," he told reporters.

"I want to thank them all, because they gave me strength. They gave me motivation to prove them wrong, which I have tonight. For me, it's not a surprise, to be honest.

"I know what I'm capable of. I've had many, many times in my career matches during the grand slam where it's just one of those days where you're not feeling your best.

"You try to find a way to win with everything that you possibly have, even though the quality of tennis is not even close to where you want it to be.

"So that was the case, you know?"

Djokovic, who is bidding to win a record 25th grand slam title, said the win over Sinner was definitely his best victory of the last couple of years, but disputed a claim made by McEnroe, that Friday was his best performance of all.

"To be honest, I wouldn't dare to call it ever, finest ever, but definitely the finest in the last couple of years.

"Under the circumstances and semis against, Sinner, who has been playing best tennis of his life in last couple of years, particularly here, two-time defending champion, doesn't get better than this.

"Honestly, when I started my preparations for the new season and kind of set the goals, you know, it's no secret that grand slams are where I want to play my best tennis, but it becomes, I guess, more difficult for me to motivate myself, and I ask myself questions.

"You know, 'okay, what is it that I'm looking for from myself?' I was imaging really playing against Jannik and Carlos at the final stages of Grand Slams this year and battling it out and really giving it all that I have."

Alcaraz and Sinner have split the last eight major titles between them since Djokovic won his last title at the 2023 US Open.

The Italian said post-match he had his chances.

"You know, we know each other very well, how we play. I always said, you know, never -- how you say -- surprised not, because I feel like he's the greatest player for many, many years.

"Of course, he's playing less tournaments because of his age and everything, but we also know how important grand slams are for me, for him, for Carlos, and everyone."

With Friday's earlier semi-final between Zverev and Alcaraz running nearly five and a half hours, Djokovic's clash with Sinner finished well into the early hours of Saturday morning.

That will leave the fourth seed little time to recuperate before Sunday's final against 22-year-old Alcaraz.

"It's almost 3 am. Yeah, let's see. I cannot make any predictions right now," Djokovic said.

"Definitely not going to train tomorrow. Just going to use every hour I possibly can to recover, and hopefully get out on the finals day feeling somewhat refreshed."

- with wires