Sinner vs. Djokovic semifinal preview: “He is back to the level,” says Jannik of throwback Novak

“This is where I lock in and really give my best,” Novak Djokovic says. “I thrive on Grand Slams.”

If you had any doubts that this was still true, he gave us all the proof we needed in a grinding, grueling, four-set win over Alexander Zverev on Wednesday. Djokovic, who has just one ATP title in the last year and a half, produced a throwback performance to beat the No. 3 seed.

He had more aces than the big-serving German, as well as more winners. He made 71 percent of first serves and was broken just once, at the very beginning of the match. He won key points serving-and-volleying, was 27 of 37 at net, and in the final set, he saved a break point by finishing a killer 34-shot rally with a forehand pass. Whenever he couldn’t afford to miss, Djokovic didn’t miss.

All of which is to say that the 38-year-old who stumbled his way through much of the first half of the season, lost two first-round matches at Masters 1000s, and fired his coach, is back in peak form, right on time. Did we expect anything less? I have to say I had my doubts that he could still win seven best-of-five-set matches on clay. Now he just has two more to go.

One of which will come against Jannik Sinner, the No. 1 player in the world, and the winner of his last 19 matches at the majors. Maybe more importantly, the Italian has also won his last three matches, and four of his last five, against Djokovic.

The Serb understands what he’s up against.

“I know what to expect from Jannik,” Djokovic says. “He’s going to come out, he’s going to play on a very high level, as he did basically every tournament that he played in the last year and a half. I don’t expect anything less from him.”

That’s thing with Sinner these days: You can pretty much count on a five-star, fifth-gear performance from him. The strokes are clean, the pace is blistering, the ball is back on you, or past you, seemingly in no time at all. To say he hasn’t dropped a set in five matches feels like a gross understatement. Three of those sets were bagels, and three were 6-1. Against Alexander Bublik in the quarters, Sinner hit 31 winners, made 13 errors, and wasn’t broken, despite making just 56 percent of his first serves.

“Felt like today I was very, very consistent from the back of the court,” Sinner said afterward. “I think that paid off a lot throughout the whole match.”

As well as these two have looked, neither has played an opponent anywhere near their level so far in Paris. Whose form will hold up better under the heightened pressure?

Djokovic will be facing a quantum leap in pace from the other side of the net. While he was able to grind with Zverev, he’ll need to up his defensive level against Sinner, who takes the ball much earlier, and find some way to push back and make the tall Italian move.

Does that sound impossible? We’ve seen Djokovic do it before here. Two years ago, when he played Carlos Alcaraz in the semis, he countered the younger man’s power by standing toe-to-toe with him, and it worked. Djokovic was both wily and confident against Zverev; he’ll need to be both of those things again.

“These kind of matchups and challenges in a way extract the best out of me,” Djokovic says.

Sinner is also well aware of what’s coming. While Djokovic is 14 years his senior, that means he also has 14 more years experience winning big matches.

“He has shown now in the last period that he is back to the level,” Sinner says of Djokovic. “He plays very, very well, so it’s going to be quite tactical, but very, very difficult. He’s such an experienced player, 24 Grand Slams. I think that says everything.”

Sinner will play his game, because why wouldn’t he? It’s the best there is right now. Djokovic will try to find a way to surprise him and disrupt that game; he’s as good as anyone has ever been at that.

Djokovic is the man with 24 majors, but these days it’s Sinner who has been coming up big at the biggest moments. Winner: Sinner