Latest / Bleacher Report / Jannik Sinner Defeats Novak Djokovic in Straight Sets to Advance to Final | 2025 Roland-Garros

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Jannik Sinner Defeats Novak Djokovic in Straight Sets to Advance to Final | 2025 Roland-Garros · Bleacher Report

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: This is Rolling Garos Live on TNT, presented by Stellar
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: R twelve, the Hall of Famer Lindsay Davenport, my main man,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Sam Query knocked off Novak twice, the Hall of Famer
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Jim Currier, the Hall of Famer Andre Agassi left goo
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: here it ended. Let's relive it one more time. Janick
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Centner taking on mister Novak Djokovic. Yanick trying to make
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: it to his first ever final, Novak trying to win
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Major number twenty five.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: And this is the matchup we all wanted, right that storyline?
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: Could it be any better? Center trying to make it
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: to the final? Here Novak trying to get to number
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: twenty five. It started out how we'd hoped right. It
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: was a solid first set, Center getting the break early
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: on at two to two, and then held out from there.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: Second set a little more of the same Center, powerful
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: groundstrokes moving Novack around. Novak tried to change things up
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: a little bit with the drop shot. This is probably
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: the point of the match. You can see Novak with
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: a stretch volley and he got the crowd going after this.
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: You gotta love this reaction from Novak. Stand there and
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: soak it a stand there and smile. That might have
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: been the worst thing that could have happened for him, though,
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: because after that it seemed like when that smile came
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: on his face. You know, sometimes Novak can play a
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: little better when he's got a chip on his shoulder,
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: but Cinner is just relentless the power of the groundstrokes. Again,
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: Novak trying to change things up, but there's no answer
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: for Cinner.
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: I think it's difficult for Novak when he's throwing everything
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: at him, throwing the kitchen sink at him, trying to
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: throw in some high loopers, trying to beat him with power,
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: and Center is just there with an answer time and
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: time again. It can defeat you as a player.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: Before this, we did have some records being snapped here.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: That sixty three straight holds, that forty five straight holds
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: versus Novak, All of those streaks snapped in that second set.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: Right and we were talking about that in the green room.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: Was that forty five holes in a row. That's got
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: to be a record against the player like Novak Djokovic.
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: That's something we might never ever see again. Third set.
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: I was actually impressed with Djokovic, you know, after losing
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: the first two sets. I wasn't sure if he was
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: going to battle back, find that willpower to get back
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: in it. But credit to Novak, he made this third
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: set of battle had three break points. That one right
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: there goes for it, got a good return in had
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: the shot line just pushed it wide. And then the
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: tiebreaker Center jumped out to an early lead. This point
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: here was a little bit of a heartbreaker. I think
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: for Novak plays a solid point down or break and
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: this is a shot we just don't see Novak jokevis
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: Mitch too often, maybe doesn't have the best overhead in tennis,
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: but that one didn't really go after it. And then
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: when Center was up three to zero, I felt like
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: that was all she wrote. Match point now for Center
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: sixty three. Four hand is too deep in the court at.
• 2:27
  Speaker 4: Center for Bilson.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: Three takes out Djokovic to reach the first roll in
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  Speaker 1: Garos final of his career, his fourth major final and
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: third straight.
• 2:35
  Speaker 5: He makes it all.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: This way without dropping a set. Last time we saw
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: that was Nadal in twenty twenty. And the straight sets
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: actually go all the way back to the Australian opening eleven.
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: They are eighteen here. That is twenty nine straight sets
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: at Major's for mister Yannick Center. For Djokovic, though it
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: is a realization he is now actually losing to Center
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: all time five to four. That heads ahead has now
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: swung that way. But that kiss, mister Currier had you think,
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: yeah it did.
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: It felt a lot like goodbye, and I hope that's
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: not the case. Djokovic has played in two Majors this year.
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: He's made the semis of two Majors this year. His
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: form isn't perfect, but he's still in the conversation Yannick Center.
• 3:16
  Speaker 4: Andre won this match with only fifty one percent first
• 3:20
  Speaker 4: seris in play. That caught me by.
• 3:21
  Speaker 5: Surpri Yeah, yeah, really surprising. I mean every swing that
• 3:25
  Speaker 5: Center takes, he uses his length and his ability to
• 3:28
  Speaker 5: sort of generate and create somehow, I feel like he
• 3:30
  Speaker 5: doesn't give himself quite the advantage he could have on
• 3:32
  Speaker 5: that first serve, and today he didn't miss a lot.
• 3:35
  Speaker 5: But you know, they both started out, they opened the
• 3:37
  Speaker 5: roof a bit breezy conditions. I think they both took
• 3:39
  Speaker 5: sort of a conservative approach towards checking each other's oil
• 3:42
  Speaker 5: and figuring each other out and seeing how well somebody
• 3:45
  Speaker 5: is playing. Since Center stayed calm, and all of a sudden,
• 3:49
  Speaker 5: Novak realized, I'm gonna have to do something more today.
• 3:51
  Speaker 5: So then we saw what we thought we were gonna see,
• 3:54
  Speaker 5: a veteran trying to problem solve. And that's what Novak did.
• 3:57
  Speaker 5: He came out living on the edge in that second set.
• 4:00
  Speaker 5: I felt like that second set could have ran away
• 4:01
  Speaker 5: from him, but he needed to take those chances. I mean,
• 4:05
  Speaker 5: we can't forget that freaking Cinner served for that second
• 4:08
  Speaker 5: and the crowd got into it, pulled Novack through it.
• 4:11
  Speaker 5: He almost wondered if Sinner got a little tight, but
• 4:13
  Speaker 5: I never felt like Cinner had to leave third gear.
• 4:16
  Speaker 5: Here's two three, and this was a big opportunity for Nova.
• 4:19
  Speaker 5: This is the fourhand here in the net devil break
• 4:22
  Speaker 5: to go up triple break point. He should have. If
• 4:23
  Speaker 5: you're going to miss that ball, you miss it long
• 4:25
  Speaker 5: or why but you miss it big? Second serve return
• 4:27
  Speaker 5: here at thirty all and he had a little breeze
• 4:29
  Speaker 5: on his back through that thing long. Next thing you know,
• 4:32
  Speaker 5: it's thirty all center because up with two first serves
• 4:34
  Speaker 5: and boom, whole serve to say three too. But the
• 4:37
  Speaker 5: whole time for me, it felt like Cinner was never
• 4:39
  Speaker 5: quite leaving that gear, and Novak had to sort of
• 4:43
  Speaker 5: live on that edge to.
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: Kind of keep it competitive.
• 4:45
  Speaker 5: By the time we got to the third it was
• 4:47
  Speaker 5: a question, is Novak and to use his veteranism to
• 4:51
  Speaker 5: really put snuff it out and kind of get a
• 4:53
  Speaker 5: centator's belt. But jannk is just too good off both
• 4:56
  Speaker 5: just too much for him. So it's like bringing a
• 4:58
  Speaker 5: knife to a gunfight fake time.
• 4:59
  Speaker 4: And and if Novak is not going to beat Center
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: when he gets that many looks at second serves, that's
• 5:06
  Speaker 4: a problem because that means he's losing the baseline battle.
• 5:09
  Speaker 4: The baseline exchange is not going his way. He was
• 5:11
  Speaker 4: getting more advantage with his serve Novak, and unfortunately for him,
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: he played at night in this this situation. It was
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: slow out there, and it was hard because he was
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: launching a forehand. I mean, he had fifty three unforced ears.
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: It wasn't like he didn't try and go big. He
• 5:26
  Speaker 4: certainly did go big. But Cinner's defense Andre must have
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: made that court feel tiny.
• 5:31
  Speaker 5: You have to you have to question if you can
• 5:33
  Speaker 5: argue Center maybe the best defensive I mean, I know
• 5:36
  Speaker 5: al Kirez gets to a lot of balls, but center
• 5:38
  Speaker 5: gets there and then unsprings on it right. I mean
• 5:40
  Speaker 5: you can get out Krez sort of chopping and weave
• 5:43
  Speaker 5: and left left and right forward and back. I think
• 5:45
  Speaker 5: it's no comparison, but I was really shocked firsthand to
• 5:48
  Speaker 5: just watch how much court he covers. He makes himself
• 5:50
  Speaker 5: seem small when he's in this crouch position, and then
• 5:53
  Speaker 5: he springs open and can fire from deep in the corner.
• 5:56
  Speaker 5: It's pretty remarkable.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: He had those opportunities in the second, lindsay, he also
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: had a bunch set points there in the third, not
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: able to get it going. It would have been interesting
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: if we had gone to a four set.
• 6:05
  Speaker 6: Yeah, those are the biggest chances. And second serve at
• 6:08
  Speaker 6: fifteen forty doesn't go for the return and Sinner able
• 6:11
  Speaker 6: to take advantage. Andre talked about it before the match.
• 6:14
  Speaker 6: Just playing neutral returns is not good enough against Cinner.
• 6:17
  Speaker 6: It's exactly what happened on the first set point. On
• 6:20
  Speaker 6: the second one, a good first serve, you got to say,
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  Speaker 6: too good. But then Novak earned a third one and
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  Speaker 6: with this one his best return is chance to go
• 6:29
  Speaker 6: for it, and he went for it. Exactly what we
• 6:31
  Speaker 6: were talking about earlier. Had to redline if he had
• 6:34
  Speaker 6: a chance. He tried, wasn't able to get that set,
• 6:36
  Speaker 6: But I like the way that he hung in there
• 6:38
  Speaker 6: in the third set.
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: Was it?
• 6:39
  Speaker 6: We all knew here if you had a chance. On
• 6:42
  Speaker 6: Sunday we talked about the time had to be pretty
• 6:44
  Speaker 6: low out there. You lose the first two sets against
• 6:47
  Speaker 6: the world number one, not sure how much thought he
• 6:50
  Speaker 6: had that he could win. Almost got that third set,
• 6:53
  Speaker 6: but that seemed like a goodbye. I don't know if
• 6:55
  Speaker 6: we're going to talk about that.
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: Let's do this. Let's go to someone who was universally loved,
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: our good friend, Marriage Fernandez caught up with Center after
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: the match, and then we'll talk Novak. So let's take
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: a list.
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah, congratulations, that was a terrific match. You had such
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: a nice embrace with Novak at the net. What does
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: it mean to be the legend that is Novak?
• 7:14
  Speaker 4: On your word?
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: Your first final at Roland garrols amazing?
• 7:17
  Speaker 7: No, it doesn't get any better. No, I he's such
• 7:21
  Speaker 7: an incredible player. He shows and he still shows it.
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: No.
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  Speaker 7: And I was lucky to practice with him when I
• 7:29
  Speaker 7: was very young. I was lucky to get some informations
• 7:32
  Speaker 7: from him. And it's amazing no what he's still doing.
• 7:37
  Speaker 7: He is such a un inspirational player for especially our
• 7:41
  Speaker 7: younger generation, that he still shows up running for every
• 7:44
  Speaker 7: ball with with with incredible intensity. So it's a it's
• 7:49
  Speaker 7: amazing playing against him. You you can feel that before
• 7:52
  Speaker 7: the match, you can feel it throughut the match when
• 7:54
  Speaker 7: things get very complicated. But again I'm very happy how
• 7:57
  Speaker 7: a handless situation and obviously happy to be in the final.
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: Looking ahead to the final, it's one versus two against
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: Carlos Alcoraz, It's the rivalry everybody really looks forward to.
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: What do you enjoy most about playing Carlos?
• 8:10
  Speaker 7: Well, I have to play my best tennis now if
• 8:12
  Speaker 7: I want to play even you know, not even if
• 8:14
  Speaker 7: I want to win. So let's see what's coming. I'm
• 8:19
  Speaker 7: very happy to be in the final, to have another
• 8:21
  Speaker 7: chance trying to do something different, trying to understand what's
• 8:24
  Speaker 7: working well against him and whatnot, and then we see,
• 8:30
  Speaker 7: you know, Grand Slam finals, I think they are a
• 8:32
  Speaker 7: bit different. They can be very long, they can be
• 8:34
  Speaker 7: also short. You know it did the bands whoever plays
• 8:37
  Speaker 7: very very well and maybe the other one has not
• 8:39
  Speaker 7: the right day, so everything can happen. But yeah, I'm happy.
• 8:44
  Speaker 7: I wouldn't have thought to find myself here in this position.
• 8:47
  Speaker 7: So let's see what's coming.
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: Best of luck going into your third major in a row.
• 8:52
  Speaker 7: Thank you so much. I appreciate it.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: We will have plenty of time to break down the
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: fact that these two guys have won the last five majors,
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: but let's spend a little bit of time on the
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: man who just won twenty four. You called it out,
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: you echoed it, the kiss on the clay. We don't
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: know how many more spins around these slams he has,
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: but you think it might be coming.
• 9:10
  Speaker 4: To a clothe Well, only he knows, right, and he
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: may not know in this moment, but it's significant when
• 9:15
  Speaker 4: he stops like he was walking off the court, and
• 9:18
  Speaker 4: he stopped and made a point to do this to
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: pay his respects to a court that has been really
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: good to him. It's also handed him a lot of
• 9:26
  Speaker 4: heartbreak along the way, especially when Rafa was a big
• 9:29
  Speaker 4: part of the story. But this guy is arguably the
• 9:32
  Speaker 4: second best male clay court player in the open era.
• 9:35
  Speaker 4: I mean the amount of times he's made the quarter
• 9:36
  Speaker 4: finals here, the amount of times he's won here, The
• 9:38
  Speaker 4: amount of times he's been in the finals. The guy
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: is an absolute legend at this court, a Hall of
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: fame career only at Roland Garriss. You take everything else out.
• 9:46
  Speaker 4: The gold medal the three times it's incredible. Is he's
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: saying goodbye. That's what it feels like. But I hope
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: it's not. I mean, I want to see this guy
• 9:54
  Speaker 4: around as long as possible. Matches like these matter. Matches
• 9:57
  Speaker 4: like these, when we get to see Novak play the
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: burgeoning stars, the guys that are taking ownership of this game,
• 10:04
  Speaker 4: we'll talk about matches like these the way that we
• 10:06
  Speaker 4: talk about when Federer played Sappers at Wimbledon. You have
• 10:09
  Speaker 4: that sort of frame of reference. It's meaningful for the
• 10:12
  Speaker 4: fans to really contextualize how great Janick Centner is. That
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: adds to centers legacy. When it's all said and done,
• 10:18
  Speaker 4: we'll be talking about those types of matches.
• 10:20
  Speaker 5: At the beginning of his career.
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: It almost felt like he was a just in case goodbye,
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: you know, like, hey, let me kind of kiss the cord,
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: look at the crowd. I may or may not be
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: here next year. Like Jim said, he we don't know,
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: only he knows. But this year, he had a run
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: in Australia, he finaled Miami, He's semi final here. Outside
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: of playing Yannick and Carlos, you trust him to be
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: almost everyone else in a big moment, So interest, Look,
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: I hope we're going to see him here next year.
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: But again, who knows.
• 10:47
  Speaker 6: Twenty four majors and you lose in straight sets. It
• 10:50
  Speaker 6: just everyone's tolerance is different, you know. And if you
• 10:53
  Speaker 6: feel like, Okay, I'm not going to be able to
• 10:55
  Speaker 6: win a major a lot of times, that sometimes is
• 10:58
  Speaker 6: the exit door. I don't know if that's no thought,
• 11:00
  Speaker 6: but losing in straight sets, and as Jim said, serving
• 11:02
  Speaker 6: at seventy plus percent and playing pretty well, not getting
• 11:06
  Speaker 6: a set that hurts.
• 11:07
  Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, I can actually look at a little
• 11:09
  Speaker 5: different too, just knowing Novac a little bit. You know,
• 11:12
  Speaker 5: he's at a place in his life where it's great
• 11:13
  Speaker 5: to see him with gratitude. You know, he has nothing
• 11:16
  Speaker 5: to prove anymore, and it's nice to see him know that.
• 11:19
  Speaker 5: So when you start putting him in that different mindset,
• 11:22
  Speaker 5: it actually does mean something for him to be very present,
• 11:25
  Speaker 5: to realize where he is, to realize what it may
• 11:27
  Speaker 5: or may not be, but something tells me still walking
• 11:30
  Speaker 5: away from this game has to come on your terms.
• 11:33
  Speaker 5: He deserves it to be on his terms. I believe
• 11:36
  Speaker 5: we're going to still see him out there until he's convinced,
• 11:39
  Speaker 5: you know, life's going to take him a new direction,
• 11:40
  Speaker 5: new season of life. Maybe he has to find new reason,
• 11:43
  Speaker 5: new motivations. But there's anybody i'd bet on to sort
• 11:46
  Speaker 5: of find that would be him.
• 11:48
  Speaker 4: I will say this too. Just my big takeaway from
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: this match is if I see his emotional state like
• 11:55
  Speaker 4: this at Wimbledon and at the US Open, when he's
• 11:58
  Speaker 4: playing a match of this mage against a player of
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: this magnitude, and he's not snarling, if he's smiling, yeah,
• 12:05
  Speaker 4: he's on his way out. I mean, look, time's undefeated,
• 12:08
  Speaker 4: but that was not representative of the emotional state when
• 12:12
  Speaker 4: he's played his best tennis. He's always looking for edges
• 12:15
  Speaker 4: in angles and things to get him motivated. He was
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: smiling in combat. That's Carlos Alcaraz's inmo That's never been Novak's.
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: It's been a heck of a calendar year for this
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: place right here. He passed one hundred wins at Roland Garros.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: There's only two players ever to do that him and Nadal.
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: He got the Golden Slam here knocking off Carlos Akarez.
• 12:34
  Speaker 4: That was really big.
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: But tonight he had twenty two match win, Street got
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: Roland Garros and Shatrie. It came to a close one
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: and two, reaching the single finals at a major for
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: the first time since the US opened. This is men
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: and women for the first time at Roland Garros nineteen
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: eighty four. Macenroe, Lendel, Navratalovo and Everett.
• 12:54
  Speaker 4: Wow, you got to bring that match up. That Johnny Mack.
• 12:57
  Speaker 4: He loves talking about that.
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: We'll get him on Sunday.
• 13:01
  Speaker 4: Make sure he was only up two steps in the
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: break that one. Just ask him about it. Yeah, it's joyful.
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: It is also the first time we got one and
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: two here since twenty twenty, and that was Nadal and Djokovic.
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: I don't want to put his career arrest because, as
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: you said, let the man go out whenever he feels
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: like it. And at thirty eight, remember he came into
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: this match having not lost a set, So pretty darn
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: special for mister Djokovic.