NEW YORK – The old man seems to have hugged about half of us to his waist, grabbed by the neck and rubbed the temple. Early in the tournament, Novak Djokovic even said in an interview with ESPN that he was more concerned than ever about his physical condition.
That’s what happens when you’re 38 years old and accumulate so many miles on your feet and play one of the most demanding sports on the planet against your enemies with physical prime.
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it hurts.
However, when Djokovic goes to court, the pain always goes in two directions. And with only two exceptions, Djokovic almost refuses explanations with the frequency that makes his enemies suffer more.
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However, these two exceptions stand again between Djokovic and the 25th major title. It was like that for several years, when Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz pushed him in, except for the generations that their previous generations couldn’t.
Well, it lasted longer than the highest-ranked American Taylor Fritz 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 in Tuesday’s quarterfinals. It’s time to ask.
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“I have another chance, I have another shot,” he said after Tuesday’s victory won him a trip to the semi-finals that faces Alkaraz. “Everyone is expecting a final for two. I’m trying to ruin my plans. They’re definitely playing the best tennis players here and they’ve been dominant since the start of the tournament, but I definitely haven’t raised a white flag on the court.
This US opening is roughly the same script that Djokovic has experienced over the past two years. To minimize schedules, maintain wear and spend more time at home with young children, he appears in the grand slams from the form of matches, lacking the touch of the ball.
In the first few rounds it appears Djokovic is there for filming, but he is still very good and tactically excellent, so he finds his way. After that, the tournament progresses every day, building up his stamina and punishing shots. By the time he arrives in the quarterfinals and faces opponents like Fritz, he is ranked 0-Fer, fourth in the majors – he is a reasonable facsimile of Peak Djokovic enough to put some of the world’s best players in the mental torture chamber.
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The poor man Fritz is now 11-0 against Djokovic. At 27, he slaps in the middle of the window where he won a slam. But as much as he tells himself that he has a better chance every time he plays, he is as lost as he is initially lost as he tries to find a way to score enough correct points.
Novak Djokovic will return a shot with Taylor Fritz in the US quarterfinal round in New York on Tuesday. (AP photo/Adam Hunger)
(AP News)
Even on Tuesday, after dropping the first two sets, Fritz digs and felt he was gathering momentum the longer it got. Djokovic was visibly worn. Once the match reached nearly three and a half hours, Djokovic was hoping to finish the match by defeating Fritz. Fritz fought two match points. Djokovic grabbed his shorts and kept breathing.
It felt like a moment when Fritz just held the serve, turning the whole match around. He couldn’t. At the third match point, Djokovic drew a double fault. It’s a microcosm of Fritz and peers in their late 20s simply unable to decipher the code.
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“What frustrates me is that you don’t have to play that well to make it happen,” said Fritz, who had desperately wanted another shot in the US Open title after losing last year’s final. “At the end of the day, it’s one of the things that make great players great. They get big points. I need to go get those points from him. He’s not going to hand it over to me.
Of course, two players will have to pass to win the title.
Alkaraz is more vulnerable to him, losing Djokovic’s attention-grabbing matchup at the Olympics last year and the Australian Open this January, but he was impermeable at this US Open. Alcaraz, the 22-year-old, the most consistent tennis player of his career, hasn’t even dropped a set. Their match in the semi-finals was the ninth they played, with Djokovic holding a 5-3 edge.
Meanwhile, the sinner defeated Djokovic five times in a row. The 24-year-old Italian has become an almost stylistic carbon copy of the young Djokovic, but his ground strokes have more power. For Djokovic at this stage of his career, it is perhaps the most nightmare matchup.
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Under proper circumstances, Djokovic can beat either on a particular day. But hitting them back-to-back on No. 25 at this stage of the game will undoubtedly be the biggest achievement of his career.
“It won’t be easy, I’ll tell you that,” he said. “But look, try to take it one day at a time to take care of your body. Try to relax and recover. For the next few days, you’ll be ready to fight five sets of body shape as needed.
Making a semi-final for all four majors in 2025 is surprising given how little Djokovic plays a regular tour, but he is realistic enough to know how each year comes out from him a little more. He knows this might be his last, best chance.
But at least he is given himself and perhaps the best winner we’ve seen in any sport, so it’s impossible to get rid of the 38-year-old’s pain and pain.
