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Novak Djokovic‘s shocking exit from the Australian Open has drawn in several experts in the game to analyze the real cause of the defeat. Recently, the German tennis legend, Boris Becker carefully scanned the match of his former pupil against Jannik Sinner and pointed out what surprised him the most.

Djokovic’s 33-match winning streak at the Australian Open came to an end at the hands of Jannik Sinner yesterday. Sinner defeated the world number no.1 by 6-1,6-2,6-7(6),6-3 in a 3-hour and 26-minute clash in the SF. Let’s find out what Boris Becker had to say after this disappointing loss of the 10-time Australian Open champion.

Boris Becker believes Novak Djokovic had realized it was not his day

The 56-year-old German legend said that Djokovic struggled with form, rhythm, and service throughout the tournament. This was Novak Djokovic’s first defeat at the semifinals of the Australian Open. But more than the defeat, Becker was surprised by how the Serbian looked on the court in the entire tournament.

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Becker said, “I’m not surprised that Jannik won, but I am surprised by the way he did it. In fact, he should have won in the third set. The Italian was already knocking on the door last year and now he has grown. He maintained his composure and served well until the end. The fact that Novak Djokovic, the best returner of all time, did not have a single break point against Sinner sums up the story of the match.”

Boris Becker then went on to add, “In terms of form, this was not Djokovic’s best Australian Open. He struggled with that, the pace and the serve in every match. He now found himself with a stronger rival. It was a surprising image. We don’t usually see him so relaxed after a defeat, maybe he realized that he wasn’t in shape, that he didn’t lose because he was unlucky, but because his opponent was better. That is the mark of a champion, realizing that it was not his day.”

Even Novak Djokovic’s statement after the loss had drawn in a fair bit of criticism over the last few hours. The 41YO Belgian former world number 1, was quick to react to Djokovic’s ‘inability to react.’

Justine Henin talks about her belief in the comeback skills of Djokovic

Henin is surprised at the lack of reaction shown by the world number one after the loss in the SF of the AO. She said, “We all know his ability to bounce back all the time. In fact, he did so on several occasions during the tournament. Today, it was the lack of reaction that surprised us.” She then went a little further and added, “Sinner’s level was very, very good, and we could have expected that. But the number of unforced errors, Novak Djokovic’s slowness, his inability to react … that was rather unpredictable.”

She also said, “Djokovic was lucid enough to say so. But that doesn’t take anything away from the fact that you can admire your opponent and say: ‘This is one of my worst Grand Slam matches’. Because I think it’s true.”

However, American tennis legend John McEnroe gave a lot of credit to the 36-year-old Novak Djokovic for competing at the highest level amid the emergence of many talented youngsters. Can Novak Djokovic make a comeback at the next Slam and win the 25th major title of his career?