‘Forget the age’ – Gen Z aim to deny history-chasing Djokovic in semi-finals

Semi-finals of the French Open 2025 men’s singles

Date: Friday, June 6; Time: 13:30 BST Location: Roland Garros

The “Big Three” may be over, but the threat persists.

As Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic threw together the biggest prizes for more than 20 years, 1990s players were only allowed to win two Grand Slam singles titles.

Between 2000 and 2000, two players who were born after that year have won seven major titles.

Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, who are currently at odds with each other in Paris, are currently in the top two.

Novak Djokovic is still a significant player.

In Friday’s first French Open semi-final, the 38-year-old faces Sinner, who is 15 years his junior, who is the oldest man in history to reach the final four since 1968.

After falling to Djokovic in four sets on Wednesday, world number three Alexander Zverev said, “I think at the moment, he’s a little underrated.”

“I believe a lot of people have already rated him out, but this year he has won over Carlos at the Australian Open and French Open.

Forget about the ages. That’s pretty good for any player, according to them.

Djokovic is attempting to win a piece of history. If he wins the Paris match, he will win the 25th major singles title without a doubt.

Since the introduction of the ATP rankings, no man has ever defeated the top three men’s players to win a major.

In his 51st major semi-final, Djokovic is a nine-game winner on a winning streak. Following a run of three successive defeats, Victory in Geneva last month gave him the opportunity to reclaim his 100th tour-level title.

The Olympic champion placed in the unusual position of sixth seed, which included four straight defeats in the opening round of Roland Garros.

However, he showed that his age is not holding him back as he rallied 41 shots to avoid a break point in the fourth set to defeat Zverev in three hours, 18 minutes.

Sinner, however, will put in a more stern test.

The Italian has won their previous three meetings, but their overall standing is 4-4.

The reigning US Open and Australian Open champion has won 19 Grand Slam games, which is the fourth-longest streak in a row this century after Djokovic (30), Federer (27), and Nadal (25).

He wants to win the Roland Garros championship as the first Italian man to do so since Adriano Panatta in 1976.

Sinner could become the first man to win three consecutive majors since Djokovic in 2021 in his 52nd week as world number one. Despite serving a three-month doping suspension between February and May, Sinner is currently in his fifth week as world number one.

Alcaraz seems to have just arrived in the perfect moment.

The Spaniard said, “I could close my eyes and everything would have gone]in after losing just five games in his straight-set quarter-final victory over American Tommy Paul.”

“It was unbelievable to me today. I was attempting to hit every shot at 100%, stopping all other shots and just hitting.

After entering a first major final, Musetti has now moved up to sixth place in the live rankings after his only defeat to Alcaraz came in their first meeting back in 2022.

After working hard to improve his serve in the off-season, the Italian will try to make more of the resistance in their most recent meeting.

Musetti said, “We shortened the motion a little to give myself more control,” and this gave me more confidence.