Jannik Sinner, 21, sets a Wimbledon record... at least for a day

WATCH: Jannik Sinner defeats Roman Safiullin in the 2023 Wimbledon quarterfinals match point

No. 8 seed Jannik Sinner ended the breakout run of Russia’s Roman Safiullin 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 on Tuesday to reach his first Grand Slam semifinal, a milestone moment for the 21-year-old.

The Italian had been knocking on the door of the last four since his Top 10 debut back in 2021, finally charging through on his fifth time of asking. In the process, Sinner became the youngest man to reach the semifinals at Wimbledon since 2007—when a rising young star named Novak Djokovic made his big breakthrough.

When informed of that fact during his Court No. 1 interview, Sinner lamented that he would barely have time to enjoy the achievement: he will be lapped by the winner of tomorrow's match between 20-year-olds Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune.

“Yeah, well it’s going to change because of Carlos…” Sinner responded, as Centre Court erupted in laughter.

“I’m still young and I’m still happy. Give me at least this feeling for one day, or just for one night!”

Sinner will be taking that feeling with him on Thursday, when he faces No. 2 seed Djokovic for a place in the Wimbledon final. The two-time defending champion had little trouble against Andrey Rublev, taking him down in four comfortable sets on Centre Court.

He’ll be trying to avoid a repeat of last year’s heartbreaking exit, which saw Sinner take a massive two-set lead over Djokovic in the quarterfinals—only to have it evaporate as the eventual champion came back to win 5-7, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2.

“First of all, you have to go up two sets to love,” Sinner joked, when asked to recall that defeat.

Since last year, he has focused on physical development, saying he is “much stronger” thanks to the hard work of coaches Simone Vagnozzi and Darren Cahill. And it’s shown in his smooth progress at SW19, where he’s only dropped two sets in five matches.

Djokovic was chasing history last year in their previous meeting en route to his fourth consecutive Wimbledon title, and it will be the case again when they meet again on Thursday. If Djokovic wins the final, he will claim an all-time record-extending 24th Grand Slam title and return to world No. 1 in the rankings. But first, he’ll have to make it past Sinner, whom he leads 2-0 in their head-to-head.

“It's for sure one of the toughest, if not the toughest, challenge in front of me if Novak wins today, because… it's a Grand Slam,” Sinner acknowledged. “It is a very, very important round, semifinals. He has won 23 Grand Slams. Won Australia, won Paris. He is in a huge confidence boost also.

“It's going to be tough, but I will obviously try my best, no? Last year I played a very good match against him. I have learned about it. Hopefully I can show this also on the court.

“I'm going to stick with my game plan in my mind, and hopefully I can execute it in the best possible way. Let's see.”