No margin for error as Djokovic tackles imperious Sinner

The 38-year-old has chance to prove he remains among the elite in semi-final meeting with relentless world No 1

- Tumaini Carayol

These kind of matchups and challenges in a way extract the best out of me," said Novak Djokovic, smiling, as the clock ticked into the early hours of yesterday morning. Djokovic had demonstrated that sentiment in real time as he spectacularly rose to the occasion against the third-best player in the world, utilising the full breadth of his complete, unprecedented game to defeat Alexander Zverev and return to the semi-finals of the French Open, where he will today face Jannik Sinner.

"Playing best-of-five, late stages of a grand slam against No 1 in the world, you can't get more motivated than that for me at this age," said Djokovic.

Although this performance had been preceded by a barren run of form on the ATP tour that included numerous early losses, the grand slam tournaments are now the sole source of Djokovic's motivation. No matter how he performs elsewhere, the 38-year-old has continually shown he still steps up on the biggest stages. Just as he excelled against Zverev in Paris, Djokovic was spectacular in January when he defeated Carlos Alcaraz at the Australian Open. His next task is the toughest of all.