LONDON — Novak Djokovic began expressing a heartfelt thought about returning to the semifinals at the All England Club — ''It means the world to me,'' he was saying, ''that I'm still able, at 38, to play (in the) final stages of Wimbledon'' — when the Centre Court crowd interrupted with yelling and applause.
''Thank you for cheering for my age. I really appreciate it. That's beautiful. Makes me feel very young,'' he said with a smile. ''Another thing that makes me feel very young is competing with youngsters.''
Truth is, Djokovic should be used to this sort of thing by now. He is the last member of a golden era of men's tennis still on tour, and after beating one 23-year-old in the quarterfinals, Flavio Cobolli, to reach his 52nd Grand Slam semifinal as he bids for a record 25th major singles championship, Djokovic will meet yet another 23-year-old, No. 1-ranked Jannik Sinner, on Friday for a berth in the final.
''That motivates me — to see how much can I still keep going with these guys, toe-to-toe,'' the sixth-seeded Djokovic said.
Djokovic enters his Wimbledon semifinal with 4 losses in a row to Sinner
He's lost his last four matches against Sinner, including in the semifinals of this year's French Open.
And Djokovic lost each of the past two title matches at Wimbledon to Carlos Alcaraz, who is almost exactly 16 years younger, meaning they're the men with the second-largest age gap between major final opponents.
No. 2 Alcaraz, who is 22, will play No. 5 Taylor Fritz, 27, in the other semifinal.