At Roland Garros, Jannik Sinner beat Novak Djokovic at his own game

It was around the middle of the second set of Jannik Sinner’s 6-4, 7-5, 7-6 (3) win over Novak Djokovic when a line from a happily forgotten song from my high school days began to creep into my head:

“Then you’ll find your servant is your master”

The voice was Sting’s, and the song was “Wrapped Around My Finger,” from the mid-80s. As unwelcome as the ear worm was, the sentiment felt like it summed up what was happening inside Court Philippe Chatrier at that stage of the match. The apprentice had moved a step ahead of the boss.

Read more: Jannik Sinner books Carlos Alcaraz championship match at Roland Garros

The first time I heard it was at 3-3 in the second set. Djokovic had lost the first set, but he had hit enough balls to find a ground-stroke groove. After saving a break point at 2-2 with a blistering forehand, he seemed ready to settle back and start wearing Sinner down, the way he has worn down hundreds of opponents before. His shots picked up pace and depth, and that lockdown-mode look came over his face.

Did Sinner notice that look, or those shots, and decide he needed to knock Djokovic out now, before he could get a foothold? Whatever the reason, the Italian picked that moment to beat Djokovic to the punch. With the Serb serving at 3-3, Sinner moved up to take his returns earlier. Twice he caught Djokovic by surprise with this tactic, followed his return with a winning shot, and went on to break. Rather than Djokovic starting to turn the match around, Sinner put himself farther ahead.

Read more: Jannik Sinner becomes first player to beat Novak Djokovic four times in a row in 15 years

“You don’t get moments where you can relax,” Sinner said of facing Djokovic. “He makes you feel that. He can change gears so fast, you know, in one point and then he gets the energy, and things could have gone very quickly the other way.”

“He’s very physical,” Djokovic said of Sinner. “He’s very fit, and he’s striking the ball incredibly well.”

That said, the 24-time Slam champ wasn’t going to go away that easily. He broke back for 5-5 when Sinner couldn’t find a first serve. And in the third set he had three set points when Sinner served at 4-5. But both times, instead of locking down, Djokovic failed to find his way through the opening.

At 5-5 in the second, Djokovic went up 40-15. He had just broken Sinner for the first time in a year and a half. The crowd was behind him. But on his first game point, he chose that moment to try a difficult drop shot, which he missed. Then he missed a forehand wide. Then he watched as Sinner broke him with a swing volley winner.

Later, at 5-4 in the third, Djokovic reached set point three times. Again the crowd was on its feet. Again, the match felt like it was going to turn. On two of those set points, Sinner put the ball away quickly. But on the third, Djokovic had a look at a forehand down the line. Instead of drilling it, he caught it late and it curved wide. The air went back out of Chatrier, and Sinner finished off a tense 12-point game.

“The third, I thought I played probably the best tennis of the entire match,” Djokovic said. “I think I was closer to win that set. Just in important moments he came up with the right play and right mentality, and you have to congratulate him.”

That brings us to the second moment when Sting’s voice entered my head. It was the first point of the third-set tiebreaker, a time when Djokovic is famous for standing firm. He has the highest winning percentage in tiebreakers in men’s tennis history. As expected, he came out firing on the first point, and had Sinner on the run right away. But unlike most of Djokovic’ opponents, Sinner was able to catch up. He made a couple of sliding gets, got the rally back to neutral, and forced a backhand error from Djokovic. Sinner had passed the final test.

“You have to be constantly at your best,” Djokovic said of Sinner. “I think I was playing on a pretty good level, honestly. Some moments on a really high level, but he did too. He was just a level better than I was tonight.”

Maybe this was the right moment for the servant to become the master—or at least for the baton to be handed off. Before leaving the court, Djokovic put his bags down and waved to the crowd. Later, he told reporters that it may have been his last match at Roland Garros.

I don’t think I have ever received this much support in this stadium in my career in big matches against the best players in the world,” Djokovic said. “If this was the farewell match of the Roland Garros for me in my career, it was a wonderful one in terms of the atmosphere and what I got from the crowd.”

Sinner said that if this was indeed Djokovic’s final go-round in Paris, he was honored to be a part for it, and that Djokovic, a long-time practice partner of his, is “very important to me as a player and also as a person.”

But the apprentice is holding out hope that this isn’t the last we’ve seen of the master.

“He said, ‘Maybe,’” Sinner said. “So you never know.”