Novak Djokovic says there is no bigger occasion than playing Jannik Sinner in a Grand Slam semi-final, in comments that might not go down well with Carlos Alcaraz.

Sinner is the world No. 1 and faces Djokovic in the last-four tomorrow. But the Serb has previously faced Alcaraz in Grand Slam finals.

Speaking about Sinner, Djokovic said: “Well, I mean, it definitely helped my confidence level, you know, and my game. In terms of obviously getting higher confidence level, reflects positively on the game, and then you start playing better as you go along, which is logical to expect if you start winning.

“I still think, I believe that my game would still be good even if I didn't play Geneva and I came directly here because, as I said, I thrive on Grand Slams and manage to play the best tennis always.

“But nevertheless, it was a good decision to go to Geneva. So of course, the 100th win and the way I won the tournament definitely helped me mentally approach Roland Garros in a better way.

“And Jannik... 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, and just super strong from every aspect of his game.

“I haven't played him now in quite some time, and, you know, 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 on't think -- we played maybe once I think on clay in Monte-Carlo years ago.

Yeah, it's going to be of course semi-finals of a Grand Slam against the 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.”