A blockbuster semifinal lineup at the French Open is headlined by a showdown between Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic on Friday evening.
This marks their ninth head-to-head encounter and they have split the previous eight at four wins apiece. Although the rivalry could not be more competitive based on that 4-4 deadlock, the reality is that an obvious shift–perhaps not a seismic one, but at least significant–has taken place. Djokovic prevailed in their first three meetings, but Sinner has won four of the last five dating back to the fall of 2023. The 23-year-old has taken three in a row from Djokovic, including two last season in the Australian Open semis (four sets) and the Shanghai title match (straight sets).
Fast forward to the midway point of the 2025 season and Sinner is now leaving Djokovic–and just about everyone else–in the dust in terms of results and the rankings. The Italian did not come close to relinquishing the No. 1 spot despite a recent three-month suspension and he is 17-1 in 2025 with a title in Melbourne and a runner-up performance in Rome. Sinner easily advanced to the Roland Garros semis by beating Arthur Rinderknech, Richard Gasquet, Jiri Lehecka, Andrey Rublev, and Alexander Bublik all in straight sets. He served up three bagels and three breadsticks in the process.
Djokovic has mostly just gone through the motions this season, but predictably he is a different player at Grand Slams. Not counting a retirement in the Aussie Open semis, the 38-year-old is 10-0 at slams in 2025. So far in Paris he has ousted Mackenzie McDonald, Corentin Moutet, Filip Misolic, Cameron Norrie, and Alexander Zverev while dropping just one set to Zverev along the way.
The Serb played great against Zverev on Wednesday, but the German implemented a useless game-plan in which he was content to camp out a million miles behind the baseline and play passive 20, 30, and even 40-ball rallies. To say that Sinner won’t let Djokovic get into a similar groove from the back of the court would be a gross understatement. The top seed can bring offensive firepower to the table and overpower the veteran even on clay.
This will almost certainly be Sinner’s toughest test of the fortnight to date, but his recent mastery of this rivalry should continue.
Pick: Sinner in 4
WWW?
Djokovic in 5
Possible after the amount of free lessons I’ve given him. So much for needing to be a former #1 to be a tennis coach, eh.
Has to be the dumbest comment he’s ever made
Sinner in 4
Hey Ricky. I appreciate you telling me “Do not hedge” on my “Name the Semifinalists” Round Robin and Parlay. I hit it for $3K!
Musetti, Novak, Sinner and Carlos all came through.
I agree with you regarding the Semifinals. I will NOT be wagering. Just enjoying the matches.
I’ll be rooting for Musetti and Djokovic but I think Sinner and Alcaraz look too good. Sinner looks like a machine. Alcaraz can have moments where he is inconsistent but when he is on, no one is better on this surface.
well done!
Joker was AWESOME vs Zv….just played with a laser like focus…but Sinner is a different animal….in 3
not sure why the italian doper is allowed to play. he should’ve been banned for 2 years at least. the italian mafioso.
And Musetti hit a person in the chest but no DQ. Mafioso is correct.
got lucky
Best bet. Sinner to win 2+points in every game. 125 to 1. Sinner rolls
wild bet
So probably at least many of us are wondering what is Nole going to try and do to take out Sinner, what’s his gameplan, is thee anything he can possibly do, which make this one of the most fascinating matches of his career IMO, at this pointit looks like Nole will need a lot of things to go well for him to get this over the line, but he did an intense training block between Madrid and Geneva exactly for a match like this, he’s going to give it his all to attempt to take down Sinner, he’s the master adjuster, he’ll have to be to get the job done here, Sinner in 5.
Sinner is tiring Novak………Novak keeps bailing on the long rallies……….strategy for sinner is to make Novak run and hope of it goes to five sets Novak loses steam, but this just looks like a str8t sets route for Sinner!
The stats don’t favour Novak, he is doing especially poorly on second serves given that Sinners 1st serve % is low, 51%! Novak is showing his age.
So based on what I’m seeing it will most likely be Sinner raising the cup on Sunday bcoz Alcaraz”s win wasn’t that convincing today. I believe if Mussetti wasn’t injured he would have beaten Carlos. But u never know!