The Athletic has live coverage from Day 6 of the French OpenPARIS — When Novak Djokovic took a pummeling from Jannik Sinner at Wimbledon last year, and then another from Carlos Alcaraz at the U.S. Open a couple of months later, he was 38.His being able to beat one, let alone both, of the two best men’s tennis players in the world, at a Slam, felt completely fanciful. Djokovic himself said as much after that semifinal defeat to Alcaraz in New York, despite making it clear that one thing keeping him from retiring was the possibility of a 25th Grand Slam title, even with Sinner, 24, and Alcaraz, then 22, as seemingly immovable objects blocking his path.By the end of the U.S. Open from which Alcaraz dispatched Djokovic, he and Sinner had split the previous eight majors between them; after January’s Australian Open, where Djokovic beat the Italian in the semifinals before the Spaniard picked him off in the final, the number was nine.In six of those nine, and in each of the past four, Djokovic has lost to either Sinner or Alcaraz. One of the remaining three, the 2025 Australian Open, saw him injure himself in the effort of beating Alcaraz. He retired from his next match after one set.Since he won a 24th major at the 2023 U.S. Open, Sinner and Alcaraz have been a two-man roadblock between Djokovic and number 25.But eight months after that dispiriting 6-4, 7-6(4), 6-2 defeat to Alcaraz at Flushing Meadows, a world of possibility has opened up for Djokovic.First, Alcaraz has not played at this French Open at all, because of a wrist injury that will also see him miss Wimbledon. Then, on Thursday, an unwell Sinner wilted in the Paris heat and was beaten in five sets by Argentina’s world No. 56 Juan Manuel Cerúndolo.