Novak Djokovic said he had always believed he could still play at the top level of tennis and rounded on those who had tried to usher him into retirement after beating Jannik Sinner in the semifinals of the Australian Open on Friday.

The 38-year-old rolled back the years with a vintage display to down the double defending champion ?in a five-set thriller and set up a final against Carlos Alcaraz, giving ?him the ?chance to land a first Grand Slam title since September 2023.

¡°I ?never stopped believing in myself, you know. There¡¯s a lot of people that doubt me. I see there is a lot of experts all of a sudden that wanted to retire me or have retired me many times the last couple of years,¡± he told reporters.