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Novak Djokovic has not held back in critiquing his Australian Open loss to Jannik Sinner, describing his display as "one of the worst grand slam matches" he had played.
Djokovic, who was chasing a record-extending 11th Australian Open, lost to the Italian fourth seed 6-1, 6-2, 6-7 (6/8), 6-3 in Friday's first semifinal on Rod Laver Arena.
Sinner broke Djokovic's serve five times, while the Serbian world number one committed an uncharacteristic 54 unforced errors.
Although he claimed the third set in a tiebreaker, Djokovic was unable to threaten Sinner's serve, failing to even gain a break point.
Djokovic said Sinner deserved his victory, labelling the world number four's performance "flawless".
But he was scathing of himself as his 33-match winning streak at Melbourne Park came to an end.
"He outplayed me completely today," Djokovic told his post-match media conference.
"I was 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.
"It's not a very pleasant feeling playing this way. But at the same time, credit to him for doing everything better than me in every aspect of the game."
Djokovic said he failed to hit peak form during the tournament.
"I haven't really played close to my best," he said.
"The match, maybe, against (Adrian) Mannarino was great, but [in] most of the matches I was not playing up to par, so to say, the way I play here in Australia normally.
"In a way, it did surprise me because I thought it wouldn't be that bad in the first two sets.
"But in the other hand, I didn't feel really myself on the court during this tournament.
"One can say semifinals is a great result, of course, but I always expect the highest of myself and it wasn't meant to be today."
Sinner could see Djokovic was off his game early in Friday's semifinal.
"In the first two sets I saw that he was not hitting the ball as he used to," Sinner said.
"He was also not moving that well and then I think he was also not that focused like we [are] used to seeing him."
Sinner defeated Djokovic twice in their four matches last year, including their most recent clash in the Davis Cup Finals.
While those wins gave him confidence, he knew it would be a greater challenge beating Djokovic at a major.
"It gives you a better feeling when you know that you can beat one player," Sinner said.
"I feel like this helped me in one way, but in the other way, grand slams are also mentally different.
"I just tried to play as relaxed as possible but also have the right game plan in my mind."
Sinner will contest his first final at a major on Sunday night when he faces Daniil Medvedev in the tournament decider.
Medvedev made his third Australian Open final in four years after fighting back to defeat Alexander Zverev 5-7, 3-6, 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/5), 6-3.