Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz have tennis history in their sights in Australian Open final

In a moment of exhaustion and elation, Novak Djokovic recognised Margaret Court in the crowd and thanked her for staying up so late to watch him get within a single victory of becoming the most decorated tennis player of all time.

The 83-year-old Court was among the VIPs at Rod Laver Arena for Djokovic’s epic five-set win over two-time defending Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner in a gruelling semi-final that ended after 1.30am on Saturday.

For now, they share the all-time record of 24 grand slam singles titles. That could change on Sunday.

Djokovic’s energy-sapping win over Sinner set up a championship decider against top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz, the 22-year-old Spaniard bidding to become the youngest man ever to complete a career Grand Slam.

Alcaraz and Sinner have combined to block Djokovic’s push for a 25th major title, splitting the past eight majors evenly between them.

In his on-court interview to cap Day 13, Djokovic thanked Court for hanging around to witness him end a streak of five losses to Sinner and also snap a run of four semi-final defeats at the grand slam tournaments.