Novak Djokovic previews French Open clash with Jannik Sinner

The legendary Serbian will take on world No. 1 Sinner in the last four at Roland Garros on Friday after his 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 quarter-final win over third seed Alexander Zverev.

Djokovic is chasing his fourth French Open crown and a record-extending 25th major overall, while Sinner is vying for a maiden Roland Garros title and fourth Grand Slam.

It will be the ninth encounter between Djokovic and Sinner, with the head-to-head split at 4-4. Sinner has won four of the last five meetings, including their most recent match in the Shanghai Masters final in October.

Following his impressively convincing victory against Zverev, Djokovic previewed his showdown with the 23-year-old Italian star.

"I just hope that I will be able to physically keep up with Sinner in a few days' time," the 38-year-old said in his press conference.

"It's a big challenge for me, it's only gonna get tougher, but it's good, it is how it's supposed to be at the highest Grand Slam level.

"Well, Jannik is in tremendous form and he has been the best player for the last couple of years. Deservedly. He's been playing some terrific tennis, attacking tennis. He's super strong from every aspect of his game.

"I haven't played him now in quite some time and we always had some exciting matches. At one point, I think we played three, four matches in a very short amount of time on hard-court.

"But I don't think⦠we played maybe once on clay in Monte Carlo years ago. It's going to be, of course, the semi-finals of a Grand Slam against No. 1 in the world. There is no bigger occasion for me. So I'll try to do my best to step it up and perform as well as I did tonight."

Sinner has stormed to the semi-finals without dropping a set, and Djokovic was asked if he has a strategy to try to stop someone playing at such a high level.

"I mean, yes and no.  It really depends on the given day and how you feel on the court," said the world No 6.

"I know what to expect from Jannik, he's gonna come out, he's gonna 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.

"But these kind of matchups and challenges, in a way, extract the best out of me. 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.

"So that's how I see it now. How am I gonna stop him? I don't think about that. I think about, how am I going to execute what I want on the court and feel how I want to feel. So that's where my thoughts are going.

"Of course, I'm going to sit with my team and think about it, work on the practice court a little bit on the specifics that will be the case when I play Jannik. So I'll do my best to get ready."

READ MORE: Vintage Novak Djokovic overcomes Alexander Zverev to reach final four of French Open