By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Friday June 6, 2025

Paris – 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic still has plenty of game, and he threw most of it in the direction of world No.1 Jannik Sinner during an electric night session on Friday night in Paris, but the Italian handled everything 38-year-old Djokovic could muster as he rode to an impressive 6-4, 7-5, 7-6(3) victory and took his place in Sunday’s final alongside his rival Carlos Alcaraz.



It will be a special weekend in Paris. The No.1 and No.2 seeds are to meet in both the men’s and the women’s final at Roland-Garros for the first time since 1968. Three-time Roland-Garros champion Djokovic did his best to crash that party but his inspired tennis was not enough to break up tennis' fledgling duopoly.

Since the start of 2024, either Sinner or Alcaraz has won each of the last six major titles. 

Sinner and Djokovic traded blows for three hours and 16 minutes with sixth-seeded Djokovic pushing the envelope in all three sets, but Sinner, buoyed by his remarkable quickness, anticipation and sweeping power, was bulletproof in the big points.

He smacked 44 winners and saved five of six break points in the contest, which featured dizzying rallies in front of an engaged crowd that tried to will Djokovic into the match.

“Just a great sense of gratitude for the kind of support that I received tonight,” Djokovic said after the match. “It was incredible. I don't think I have ever received this much support in this stadium in my career in big matches against the best players in the world. So very, very honored to experience that, obviously.”

Djokovic was playing his record 51st career semifinal at the majors, and judging from his level it may not be his last. Credit Sinner for emphatically keeping him at bay and snapping the Serbian legend’s nine-match winning streak.

With Djokovic close to the end of the line, fans embraced him as if it might be his last match ever inside the clay-court Mecca.

“This could have been the last match I ever played here,” he admitted to reporters. “That's why I was a bit more emotional even in the end. But if this was the farewell match of the Roland-Garros for me in my career, it was a wonderful one in terms of the atmosphere and what I got from the crowd.”

Djokovic plans to head to Wimbledon next, and continue his pursuit of a 25th Grand Slam title.

“I don't know. I don't know really what tomorrow brings in a way at this point in my career," he said. "I'm going to keep on keeping on. Obviously Wimbledon is next, which is my childhood favorite tournament. I'm going to do everything possible to get myself ready.”

Djokovic had a tall order once the draw was revealed three days before the main draw began in Paris. He learned he would likely need to go through the No.3, No.2 and No.1 ranked players – a feat that has never been accomplished by any man in Open Era history – to win the title.

He got through third-ranked Alexander Zverev in four impressive sets, but his road ended tonight.

Sinner’s is just beginning. The 24-year-old reached his first Roland-Garros final and his fourth at a major. The Italian, who fell to Alcaraz in the semifinals last year in Paris, has lost four in a row to his rival.

Neither he nor Alcaraz has ever lost a major final before, so something will give on Sunday.