Jannik Sinner extinguishes Novak Djokovic, and joins Carlos Alcaraz in the final – Liberation

This Friday evening, we would have liked that time trips to exist, just to bring back to the court Philippe-chatrier a djokovic of a few years less. The choice, perhaps that of 2023 which had won three Grand Colem, including Roland-Garros, the same year. Or that of 2021 which had succeeded in the same feat. Not that the 2025 version is not suitable – the Serbian is always easily one of the three best players on the circuit. But he had in front of him in the semi-finals Porte d’Auteuil a robot, a automaton, a machine: Jannik Sinner, a kind of prototype shaped with the latest market innovations. And so well settled that a 38 -year -old player, even haloed by the best title in history, could not derail it.

We do not know if a Novak Djokovic of a few years less managed to win a few more games. This Friday evening that was beautifully played, and yet he left Fanny, dryly beaten in three sets (6-4, 7-5, 7-6). « It’s still a shame that everyone aged »philosophy our neighbor of Tribune. We wouldn’t have said better.

For more than three hours, the old Serbian left us the strange impression of never being very far, and at the same time never really close to the young (23 years old) Italian. From the first round, we saw him fly much closer to the Sinner UFO than these predecessors – Lehecka, in the third round, Rublev in eighth and Bublik in quarters had in cumulative registered only two games in during their first three respective sets against the world number 1. Djokovic has scored as much in ten minutes. An ephemeral resistance. Jannik Sinner is a machine gun with the hellish cadence and the charger with unlimited capacity, which lights up again and again, without really varying – why do it when tap is enough. Taken in the viewfinder, Novak Djokovic held 21 minutes to jump everywhere like a rabbit before losing his first time. The set will follow half an hour later. The worst in all of this? With only 43 % of first past services, Sinner seems to play with the handbrake.

The second round will have offered us two events. First, Jannik Sinner made a double fault. Normal, you could say, everyone in fact. Except the Italian who had only done one since the start of the tournament (unheard of for a player reaching the semi-finals Porte d’Auteuil since the statistics are noted). Then, he ended up letting go of his service – he had not been breaking since the first round, eleven days ago. The Chatrier public, widely acquired by the cause of Djokovic, believed it for a while. Jannik Sinner gave things to the Fissa order and left with the set (7-5). The Serbian frustrated-at this level, playing a wall. The spectator in front of us too: « Go ahead, this guy is too strong. »

The third set lasted a lead (1 h 19). On several occasions, we thought we saw the sinner wall crack, to concede three set balls on its service, all erased from a potato in a forehand or in reverse. As if the Italian’s blood, alone in the face of 15,000 people, was made of ice. The case went to Tie-Break, a reserved area of ​​the Serbian, he who is so strong in the times so hot. The Italian laughed: he crushed the decisive game (7-3), the set and the match with it. Jannik Sinner has not lost a Grand Slam set since his round of 16 at the Australian Open 2025. 29 consecutive rounds. After reflection, not sure that a Djokovic of 30 or 35 years would have done better.

The Serbian legend will quickly turn to the lawn. There is Wimbledon in a month to try to hang a 25th Grand Slam to his counter and this time being permanently alone in his kingdom (Margaret Smith runs in women also won 24). The time turns. He will be 38 years old and a month. Jannik Sinner, he may continue to write the history of tennis on Sunday, and his own in passing. He could win his fourth major – the third in a row after the US Open at the end of 2024 and the Australian Open therefore in January. He will have a Carlos Alcaraz facing him in search of a double Porte d’Auteuil. The only player on the power circuit, perhaps, unclogging the unbeatable.