Australian Open as it happened: Long live the king – Djokovic outlasts Sinner on an epic day, and night, at Rod Laver Arena

Novak Djokovic spoke to media at 2.35am on Saturday morning, about an hour or so after his epic win over Jannik Sinner.

On the win:
“I wouldn’t dare to call it my finest win ever but it’s definitely the finest from the last couple of years,” Djokovic said.

“Under the circumstances, Sinner is playing the best tennis of his life the last couple of years, particularly here where is a two-time champion.

“It doesn’t get better than this honestly.”

On how he can possibly recover in time for Sunday’s final:
“I don’t know - let’s see,” Djokovic said.

“It’s almost 3am [when he was speaking to media] and I can’t make any predictions right now. I’m definitely not going to train tomorrow [Saturday], I’m just going to use every hour I possibly can to recover and hopefully get out on finals day feeling somewhat refreshed.”

On facing Alcaraz and their challenges to refresh for the final:
“He also played a gruelling match, let’s see how fresh we’re both able to be,” Djokovic said.

“He also had a big, big match and he’s got 15 or 16 years on me so, biologically, it’s going to be a bit easier for him to recover. But I’m looking forward to it. I play tennis competitively, mainly, to reach the finals of a grand slams. So I cannot complain. I’ll enjoy the moment that I’m experiencing tonight, I’ll think about the final later but for me, this almost equals winning a grand slam.”

That’s all we have for you tonight, everyone.

Thanks so much for joining us, and please return later on Saturday when we launch our next Australian Open live blog on women’s final day.

Please have a lovely evening and bye for now.

Jannik Sinner spoke to the media after his five set loss to Novak Djokovic.

On the pain of losing:
Yeah, [there’s] a lot. It was a very important slam for me, knowing also the background. It can happen. It was good match from both of us. I had many chances. I couldn’t use them, and that’s the outcome. Yeah, it hurts, for sure.

On whether he was surprised by Djokovic’s form and power:
I know he’s won 24 grand slams. We know each other very well, [and] how we play. I always say don’t be surprised because 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 [Alcaraz], and everyone. You know, there is this small extra motivation... hopefully I can see some, take it also kind of as a lesson maybe to see what I can improve on.

Novak Djokovic spoke to media at 2.35am on Saturday morning, about an hour or so after his epic win over Jannik Sinner.

On the win:
“I wouldn’t dare to call it my finest win ever but it’s definitely the finest from the last couple of years,” Djokovic said.

“Under the circumstances, Sinner is playing the best tennis of his life the last couple of years, particularly here where is a two-time champion.

“It doesn’t get better than this honestly.”

On how he can possibly recover in time for Sunday’s final:
“I don’t know - let’s see,” Djokovic said.

“It’s almost 3am [when he was speaking to media] and I can’t make any predictions right now. I’m definitely not going to train tomorrow [Saturday], I’m just going to use every hour I possibly can to recover and hopefully get out on finals day feeling somewhat refreshed.”

On facing Alcaraz and their challenges to refresh for the final:
“He also played a gruelling match, let’s see how fresh we’re both able to be,” Djokovic said.

“He also had a big, big match and he’s got 15 or 16 years on me so, biologically, it’s going to be a bit easier for him to recover. But I’m looking forward to it. I play tennis competitively, mainly, to reach the finals of a grand slams. So I cannot complain. I’ll enjoy the moment that I’m experiencing tonight, I’ll think about the final later but for me, this almost equals winning a grand slam.”

An emotional Novak Djokovic spoke to Nine’s Jim Courier in the post-match.

On the match and Jannik Sinner:
I’m lost for words right now, to ... my God. It feels surreal to be honest... you know, it was over four hours, [finishing at] almost 2am. Reminiscing to 2012 when I played Rafa in the finals – that was six hours almost. But the level of intensity, and I guess the quality of tennis, was extremely high, and I knew that that was the only way for me to have a chance to win tonight against him [Sinner]. You know, he won the last five matches against me. He had my mobile number, so I had to change my number for tonight. No jokes.
Jokes aside, I told him at the net, thanks for allowing me at least one, you know, in the last couple of years. I have tremendous respect for him. [He’s] an incredible player. He pushes you to the very limit, which is what he did tonight to me. So, he deserves a great round of applause, obviously, for his performance.

Some legends stayed up ’til 2am. Margaret Court, thank you so much for being here tonight. I cannot thank enough for the support to all the people. I mean, you guys have been incredible tonight. Honestly... incredible. I love our passionate relationship. Every year, [it’s] something different, you know? And tonight it has been one of, if not the best, nights atmosphere-wise, support-wise I ever had in Australia for sure.

Novak Djokovic is back in the Australian Open final. Unbelievable.

The 10-time champion will chase title number 11 against Carlos Alcaraz on Sunday night after he won an epic five-set battle with Jannik Sinner over four hours and nine minutes.

It was a little past 1.30am local time, but Djokovic had a stadium full of tennis fans screaming his name after he came back from two sets to one down to outlast the relentless Jannik Sinner, who fought off one match point and had Djokovic, uncharacteristically, fluff a certain winner at the net.

But Djokovic wouldn’t be denied. Bring on Sunday night’s final.

Sinner had held serve in a lightning fast game.

Now Djokovic is serving for the match and a spot in the final.

Strap in everyone. It’s 5-4 with Djokovic to serve.