This year’s French Open semi-finals will see two multiple Grand Slam champions lock horns with opponents who are bidding to play in a major final for the first time.

12-time champion Rafael Nadal will be the first to take to Court Philippe-Chatrier as he plays Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman. A player who he has a commanding 9-1 head-to-head record against but he did lose to him last month. Following that match, world No.1 Novak Djokovic will face Stefanos Tsitsipas in what will be their sixth meeting on the Tour. Tsitsipas is the only player under the age of 25 to have reached the last four of the tournament.

Ahead of the upcoming showdown, here are 10 things to know about the four semi-finalists.

1. Schwartzman could become only the third player in history to beat Nadal on the clay multiple times within the same season. The Argentine has already got the better of the world No.2 at the Italian Open when he prevailed in straight sets. Only Novak Djokovic and Fabio Fognini have previously achieved this milestone during the 2015 season.
   
2. It is the sixth time Nadal has reached a French Open semi-final without dropping a set after 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2017. Overall, he has spent just 10 hours and four minutes on the court so far this year. Although this is just 28 minutes shorter than Djokovic who dropped a set in his quarter-final match against Pablo Carreno Busta.
   
3. 22-year-old Tsitsipas is bidding to become the youngest player to reach a Grand Slam final for more than 10 years. Juan Martin del Potro won the US Open back in 2009 at the age of 20. As for the French Open, Tsitsipas would become the youngest men’s finalist since Nadal back in 2008.
   
4. Djokovic has won nine out of his last 10 matches against top 10 players at Grand Slam tournaments. The only person to have beaten him within this period was Dominic Thiem at the French Open 12 months ago. Furthermore, he is on a seven-match winning streak against top 10 opposition overall.
   
5. Nadal has never been beaten in any of his 12 previous semi-final appearances at Roland Garros. Between 2017-2019 he won all of his semi-final encounters in straight sets after beating Thiem two years in a row followed by Roger Federer in 2019.
   
6. Schwartzman is bidding to become only the fourth Argentinian man in history to reach a French Open final and the first since 2005. Following in the footsteps of Guillermo Vilas, Gastón Gaudio and Mariano Puerta.
   
7. Tsitsipas has only defeated a world No.1 player once before in six attempts. However, his victory was over Djokovic at the Shanghai Masters last year.
   
8. Should Nadal reach another final he would become the third oldest player in the Open Era to do so at the age of 34 years 130 days. The oldest to do so was Andres Gimeno in 1972 at the age of 34 years and 306 days.
   
9. Djokovic has recorded 72 wins at the French Open which is the second highest in history after Nadal. However, the tournament still remains his worst slam in terms of titles won (1) and finals made (4).
   
10. Whoever wins in the match between Nadal and Schwartzman will record their 21st win of the season and move to 5th on the list for more Tour wins. Although both players are still far off Djokovic who has already recorded 36.