1) Djokovic is an Olympic record-breaker

Novak Djokovic is used to breaking records and the Serbian superstar wrote his name into the history books once more with a trio of mind-boggling stats on day six at Roland Garros.

By reaching a fourth Olympic singles semi-final, Djokovic put clear water between him and the group of players who have achieved the feat on two occasions – Djokovic was the only player who had made three semi-finals in singles at the Olympics.

He also set a new Olympic record by becoming the oldest player to reach the singles semi-finals at the age of 37 years and 74 days.

Djokovic’s victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas was also his 17th in Olympic singles matches – an astonishing four more than any other player since tennis returned to the Games at Seoul 1988.

2) Paolini and Errani aren’t getting ahead of themselves

The Italian duo of Jasmine Paolini and Sara Errani were keeping their cards close to their chests when asked about their medal chances after their quarterfinal win on Thursday.

Errani and Paolini, who defeated Brits Katie Boulter and Heather Watson 63 61 in just over an hour, are the 2024 Roland Garros women’s doubles runners-up and at No. 3 are the highest seeds left in the women’s doubles.

If that gives them confidence ahead of their semi-final against Czechia’s Karolina Muchova and Linda Noskova, they weren’t showing it.

“I don't know. We will see tomorrow. I will tell you tomorrow after the match,” said Paolini. “(We’re) close, but at the moment we don’t have medals, so we have to focus on tomorrow and try to play good tennis.”

Paolini and Errani became the first Italians to reach an Olympic semifinal in singles or doubles since tennis’s return to the Olympics at Seoul 1988, and they were joined later on Thursday by Lorenzo Musetti in the men’s singles. In fact, it is 100 years since an Italian tennis player reached the last four at any Olympics, with Uberto de Morpurgo doing so at Paris 1924 and finishing with a bronze medal.

“It's great to be in this position. I think we play a really great match today. It wasn't easy because they play good,” said Paolini. “So we're happy that we are in the semi-final, we hope that tomorrow it's gonna be a good day and I hope that we can play as good as today.”

Errani is the owner of five Grand Slam doubles titles and a veteran of five Olympic Games but Paris 2024 is proving to be her best yet. “I'm really happy today. I was really focused. I want to do good, but we have to be focused to concentrate on what we have to do on the court, how to manage the situation.”

“It’s very special for me, Olympics has always been really special. So I'm really happy to be here.”

3) USA pair is looking to make amends

They say time is a great healer. Not so for USA men’s doubles pairing Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram.

Both players have endured Olympic heartache in the past and as such both players are extra motivated to win gold in the men’s doubles this year.

Krajicek, who finished fourth alongside Tennys Sandgren at Tokyo 2020, said: “You don't get that many chances as the Olympics is every four years. We had a chance in Tokyo, got fourth place, which was probably one of the hardest losses of my career. You never know if you're going to get a chance to do it again. And, fortunately, we were able to get here and we'll get one more go.”

His partner can already lay claim to some Olympic memorabilia as he finished with a silver medal in the mixed doubles eight years ago in Rio.

But not coming away with the gold is something that still hurts the 40-year-old.

“I ended up with a medal, but it was one of the toughest losses I took,” he said about his loss alongside Venus Williams against Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Jack Sock. “You play for that gold medal and it’s so close, but you don't have it.

“You never know if you get a chance again, so I'm pretty happy that I have that opportunity and we're going to absolutely give it our all.”

4) Olympic tennis is big news in China

This is already the most successful Olympic Tennis Event for Chinese players, with the country guaranteed of two medals – both of which could be gold.

Zheng Qinwen might have stolen the limelight on Thursday with her sensational straight sets victory over world No. 1 Iga Swiatek, but in the mixed doubles the Chinese duo of Wang Xinyu and Zhang Zhizhen are also through to a gold medal match.

Asked what this will mean for their home country, Zhang said: “It should be big, because it’s the first time that we got to two finals at the same Games. Before we stepped in Paris nobody was expecting us to win these two medals. Incredible job for us and for her.”

Zhang added that Zheng’s victory in singles gave them the extra motivation to get the job done in their mixed doubles semi-final against Netherlands’ Demi Schuurs and Wesley Koolhof.

He said: “We knew she [had won] before because it was during the warm-up. We were super happy before our match started that she finished the match. That also gave us a bit of a different emotion. I'm super happy for her and also for us.”

5) Muchova wanted to return for the Olympics

Czechia’s Karolina Muchova reached the women’s doubles semifinals on Thursday only five weeks after returning from a nine-month lay-off following wrist surgery.

Muchova, the 2023 Roland Garros runner-up, had targeted Paris 2024 for her comeback, and now finds herself in contention for a medal with Linda Noskova.

The pair came back from the loss of the first set to beat Chinese Taipei’s Hsieh Su-Wei and Tsao Chia Yi 1-6 6-4 [14-12] in their quarterfinal, saving a match point in the tiebreak.

“I'm really happy. It's great. I didn't know when I will come back. I was hoping for Olympics, actually,” said Muchova. “I managed to play a few tournaments even before, so I'm just really glad I'm here with the team and I can play.”

The three tournaments that the 27-year-old played before Paris did include a runner-up finish on clay in Palermo, which looks to have set her up well for the Olympics (likewise for her Palermo conqueror, Qinwen Zheng).

“Obviously I'm still getting the rhythm you know, on everything. I'm just trying to get where I was and then even better, so I think it's gonna take a while but I'm just very, very grateful to be here. And I'm so happy that I made it to Paris, at least for the Olympics”.

Muchova and Noskova, both competing in their first Games, became the fifth Czech women’s doubles team to reach the Olympic semi-finals since tennis returned to the Games at Seoul 1988.

Reigning Olympic champions Barbora Krejckova and Katerina Sinikaova, the only Czech pairing to have gone all the way to a gold medal, lost in the quarterfinals on Thursday.