Novak Djokovic: Australian Open semi-final defeat to Jannik Sinner one of my worst grand slam showings

Novak Djokovic branded his defeat by Jannik Sinner to end his long unbeaten Australian Open run as one of the worst performances of his career.

The world number one's 6-1 6-2 6-7 (6) 6-3 loss in the semi-finals was his first at Melbourne Park since a fourth-round defeat by Chung Hyeon in 2018, ending a 33-match streak taking in four titles.

Djokovic made 54 unforced errors, dropped serve five times and, for the first time in a completed grand slam match, did not create a single break point.

"First I want to congratulate Sinner for playing a great match, great tournament so far," said the Serbian, who had been chasing a record 25th slam title and 11th here.

"He’s deservedly in the finals. He outplayed me completely today. I was, in a way, shocked with my level, in a bad way. There was not much I was doing right in the first two sets.

"I guess this is one of the worst grand slam matches I’ve ever played. At least that I remember. Not a very pleasant feeling playing this way."

The 22-year-old Italian was seen as the most likely rival to stop Djokovic after beating him twice in two weeks at the end of last season at the ATP Finals and Davis Cup.

But surely no one would have predicted the manner of the first two sets of this semi-final, with an error-strewn Djokovic winning just three games.

He saved a match point in the third-set tie-break to give himself hope but there was no dramatic comeback, with Sinner regrouping impressively and going on to clinch victory after three hours and 22 minutes.

The fourth seed moves through to a first grand slam final while Djokovic must lick his wounds.

Djokovic struggled with illness at the start of the fortnight and had a tougher passage through to the last four than usual, losing three sets along