Novak Djokovic responds to the health of fans during the quarterfinals against Alexander Zverev during the French Open at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris. (AP) Paris:Novak Djokovic has many descriptors, but nothing completely complies with the 24 -time Grand Slam champion, such as the word “mentalist”. 38 -year -old man likes to raise the exchange, takes it to the chalk lines, to this space between the ears. It is a place where most competitors shrink and shrink, while some others simply move the device to Beast mode. This is the exact space in which Novák Djokovic will hope that the world Jannik Sinner will play when the duo is on Friday in the French Open semifinals. It is the ninth meeting of the couple with the head to the head locked in 4-4.Go beyond the border with our YouTube channel. Subscribe! “These kinds of matches and challenges extract the best of me. They play the best of five in later stages of great straw, against world 1, at this age there can be no more motivation for me,” Djokovic said. “I don’t think how I stop him? I think how will I do what I want to do in court?” Djokovic versus Sinner, the best player in history versus player no. 1 in the world, is a dream semifinal. The match has all-pain and ice, romance of clash between generations, energy and explosive edge versus 24-carat experience.
In the style of playing, Sinner is the one who is most similar to Djokovic from the younger cohort. Its strengths are the same as the Serb, including the mental edge – only 14 years younger. The Italian, 23 years, who returned to the competition after serving a three -month ban on testing positive on Closebol, forbidden anabolic steroid, faced mixed reactions in the dressing room from the tests published last August. There was support, but slim, indifference, but most players felt that he got preferential treatment. “Two cases of Iga Swiatlek and Jannik Sinner attracted much attention and it is not a good picture for our sport,” Djokovic said at the beginning of this year. “Most players do not feel that (the process is) fair. It seems that if you have access to the best lawyers, you can almost influence the outcome.” Sinner won all the last three meetings of couples, played in the range of 10 months, from November 2023 to October 2024. The matches were played on hardcourt, the preferred surface of both players, but the triple champion Roland Garros, which reached the 100th single in Geneva. “Victory against Alcaraz in the Australian Open neighborhoods, victory against Zverev (quarters, Wednesday evening) proves that I can still play at the highest level. I just hope to physically keep up with sin.” “Now he has recently shown that he is back to the level,” Sinner said about Djokovic’s form. “It will be tactical and very, very difficult.” On the first Friday semifinals, the defending champion Carlos Alcaraz plays the world 7 Lorenzo Mouseti. 22-year-old Spaniard leads his head to his head 5-1 and ended up on top at his last five meetings. Four out of six matches of the duo were played on outdoor clay.
