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Novak Djokovic has hit back at "experts" who "wanted him to retire" after reaching the Australian Open final for the first time in three years. Aged 38, Djokovic battled back from two-sets-to-one down to beat two-time defending champion Jannik Sinner 3-6 6-3 4-6 6-4 6-4 at 1.30am local time, needing more than four hours to get the job done.

Last year, Djokovic reached the semi-finals of all four Majors. He retired injured while facing Alexander Zverev in Melbourne. Sinner beat him at the French Open and Wimbledon, and Carlos Alcaraz got the better of Djokovic at the US Open.

The Serbian superstar has openly claimed that Sinner and Alcaraz are playing at a better level than himself and the rest of the men's tour, especially over the best-of-five set format. So for Djokovic, this was a milestone victory.

The world No. 4 has not lifted a Grand Slam trophy since the end of 2023, and his last final came at Wimbledon in 2024. Djokovic had been on the cusp of bowing out in the quarter-finals here when Lorenzo Musetti had a two-set-to-love lead before he got injured and retired mid-match.

The 38-year-old knew he had received something of a lifeline, and he made the most of it. And Djokovic has now explained that he never lost hope - even when some in the tennis world thought he should call it quits.

"Well, I never stopped doubting. 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," Djokovic said, speaking in the early hours of Saturday after his epic victory.

"You know, I want to thank them all, because they gave me strength. They gave me motivation to prove them wrong, which I have tonight. For me, it's not a surprise, to be honest.

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"I know what I'm capable of. So I've had many, many times in my career matches during the Grand Slam where it's just one of those days where you're not feeling your best. You try to find a way to win with everything that you possibly have, even though the quality of tennis is not even close to where you want it to be.

"So that was the case, you know? Again, I was lucky that obviously Lorenzo got hurt and retired that match. Two days later, obviously, different opponent. I knew exactly what's expecting me on the court, and I came out with the right, great clarity and strategy and game plan and what needs to be executed.

"Obviously easier said than done. You know, one thing is to imagine how you want to play, and the other thing is to deliver it and execute it on the court against Sinner, that we all know is playing an extremely high level. Yeah, I mean, I'm just thrilled to be able to experience something like this tonight."

Djokovic is the only player who has beaten Sinner and Alcaraz back-to-back to win a title, doing so at the 2023 ATP Finals. And he'll be hoping to pull that off again as he meets the Spaniard in Sunday's final.