Will Alcaraz and Djokovic finally be able to play against each other at the French Open?

Eight days ago, 128 men started competing in singles at the French Open. Pretty much everyone is focused on two of them.

Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic came one step closer to a possible confrontation in the semifinals on Sunday. They removed clinically overmatched opponents who often struggled to get points and games, let alone sets, in back-to-back matches in front of a packed house on the Philippe Chatrier court, and offered a glimpse into what was before that stadium could come the weekends.

First, Djokovic took apart Juan Pablo Varillas, a 27-year-old Peruvian who has been beating the sport’s rear for the past decade. He had never won a match in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament before this year’s French Open and enjoyed a storybook ride through the first week. Djokovic put an end to that in 1 hour and 57 minutes, expending all the energy he needed in the 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 victory and not an ounce more.

“I know what my purpose is here,” he said, and he didn’t have to explain what it was.

Then it was showtime, as Alcaraz, the 20-year-old world number 1, took on Lorenzo Musetti, an Italian who is only 10 months older and can play almost as flashy.

He took 2:08 and had the same score, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2, for Alcaraz.

“My best game of the tournament so far,” he said.

For more than a year now, Djokovic, the winner of 22 Grand Slam titles, and Alcaraz, the new king of the sport who won his first major title at the US Open last year, have somehow missed each other.

Sometimes one lost before it was deep enough to face the other. Djokovic’s decision not to get vaccinated against Covid-19 forced him to miss hard court tournaments in North America last summer and this spring. When Djokovic returned for the fall season and Australian summer, Alcaraz was injured. They couldn’t connect.

Now they are six sets further. Alcaraz has to beat the fifth seed, Stefanos Tsitsipas from Greece, on Tuesday. They played four matches and Alcaraz won them all.

Djokovic plays eleventh-seeded Karen Khachanov from Russia. They played nine times, of which Djokovic won eight.

It is not certain that Alcaraz and Djokovic will face each other in a semifinal on Friday. Even the best players have bad days. Both Tsitsipas and Khachanov play more on clay than on any other surface. Djokovic has been struggling with a sore elbow lately. Alcaraz has shown in the past eight months that he can be injury prone. Disruptions happen.

That said, on Sunday, Djokovic and Alcaraz delivered performances – and self-evaluations about them – that gave an almost inevitable look to an upcoming showdown.

Djokovic has long been the master of match management at Grand Slam tournaments, requiring men to win seven best-of-five sets matches to claim the title and almost always separating the greats from the very good. He begins to play at the level of energy expenditure, both physical and emotional, that he’s decided he needs for the game, dialing it in only when necessary.

So many of his Sunday winners, hit on corners he saw and Varillas didn’t, may not have had the spunk he shows against other opponents. You didn’t have to.

He was 4-0 up before the game was around 20 minutes old against an opponent who had never faced anyone of his level before.

“With one ball you’re aggressive, and with one ball he flips the coin the other way and then you’re defending,” Varillas said.

Djokovic has been in this position before, one game away from heavyweight bouts with one of the biggest names in the sport, often Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal. Last year it was a quarterfinal against Nadal, who also has 22 Grand Slam titles to his name. The year before, Nadal loomed in the semifinals. They both came to fruition.

Djokovic didn’t pretend he hasn’t paid attention to what comes after what comes next.

“You always follow the best guys in your half, how they play,” he said. “Of course you watch, you analyze everyone’s game.”

Yes, he is focused on himself, he said, “but of course I keep in mind what the others are doing.”

The ‘others’, of course, mean Alcaraz, who, perhaps because of his youth, comes to his matches from a viewpoint other than energy conservation, seeking instead the greatest possible spectacle.

Relishing the prospect of Sunday’s game with Musetti, his smile broke and his eyes lit up as he spoke of playing another flashy upstart.

“Really good rallies, good shots between us, and of course it’s going to be a really fun game to watch,” he said.

Sometimes that can be just as important to him as winning. He hardly ever sees a drop shot he doesn’t want to race to, a lob he doesn’t think he can chase so he can extend the rally with a shot between the legs, even if it means giving his opponent an easy overhead, which he will also try to hunt. He’s the one who makes the magic, but also the biggest fan.

After his victory on Sunday, he confessed that sometimes, after his best shots, he wants to look at the big screen in the stadium and drool at the replay, along with everyone else in the audience and watch it on television at home.

“Very often,” he said.

Six more sets. Then he and Djokovic can give the show that Roland Garros has been waiting for.