Novak Djokovic reacts to fans’ cheers during a quarterfinal match against Alexander Zverev during the French Open at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris. (AP) Paris:Novak Djokovic has many descriptors, but nothing quite typifies the 24-time Grand Slam champion like the word ‘Mentalist’. The 38-year-old likes to lift an exchange, take it beyond the chalked lines, to that space between the ears. It’s where most competitors shrink and shrivel, while some others simply shift gear into beast mode. That is the precise space where the sixth-seeded Novak Djokovic will hope to play the world No. 1 Jannik Sinner, when the duo face-off in the French Open semifinals on Friday. It’s the pair’s ninth meeting with the head-to-head locked at 4-4.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW! “These kinds of matchups and challenges extract the best out of me. Playing best-of-five in the later stages of a Grand Slam, against the world No. 1, there can’t be greater motivation for me at this age,” Djokovic said. “I don’t think, how am I going to stop him? I think how am I going to execute what I want to do on the court?” Djokovic versus Sinner, the best player in history versus the No. 1 player in the world, is a dream semifinal. The matchup has everything — spice and ice, the romance of a clash between generations, energy and explosive edge versus 24-carat experience. In playing style, Sinner is the one who most resembles Djokovic from the younger cohort. His strengths are the same as the Serb, including the mental edge — only he’s 14 years younger. The Italian, 23, who returned to competition after serving a three-month ban for testing positive for Clostebol, a banned anabolic steroid, has faced mixed reactions in the locker room since the tests were made public last August. There has been support, however slim, indifference too, but a majority of the players felt he received preferential treatment. “The two cases of Iga Swiatek and Jannik Sinner have attracted a lot of attention and it’s not a good image for our sport,” Djokovic said earlier this year. “A majority of the players don’t feel that (the process is) fair. It appears that you can almost affect the outcome if you are a top player, if you have access to the top lawyers.” Sinner has won all of the pair’s last three meetings, played in a span of 10 months, between November 2023 and October 2024. The matches were played on hardcourts, which is the preferred surface of both players, but the three-time Roland Garros champion, who achieved a 100th singles… played a 250 Series event in Geneva, where he clinched his 100th Tour-level title, checking a box, before arriving in Paris. “The win against Alcaraz in the quarters of the Australian Open, the win against Zverev (quarters, on Wednesday night) proves that I can still play at the highest level. I just hope that I will be able to physically keep up with Sinner.” “He has shown now in the last period that he is back to the level,” Sinner said of Djokovic’s form. “It’s going to be tactical and very, very difficult.” In the first of Friday’s semifinals, defending champion Carlos Alcaraz plays the world No. 7 Lorenzo Musetti. The 22-year-old Spaniard leads the head-to-head 5-1, having finished on top in their last five meetings. Four of the duo’s six matches have been played on outdoor clay.
