Novak Djokovic had to overcome a handicap of two sets against his Serbian compatriot Laslo Djere (38th in the world) to win (4-6, 4-6, 6-1, 6-1, 6-3) and thus qualify for the round of 16 of the US Open. “I had a lot of difficulty finding the solution. At first I didn’t have many options but then I leveled up. When I broke in the third set, I understood that I had an opening”, explained the Serb who admitted that this match had been “one of the most difficult” that he had to play Flushing Meadows.
In a half of the table relieved of many of his seeds, the 36-year-old Serb, guaranteed to become world number 1 again at the end of the tournament, will face Sunday for a place in the quarters the Croatian Borna Gojo (105th and from the qualifications ). Friday, against a very good Djere who bravely played his luck, Djokovic suddenly raised his intensity and determination after losing the first two sets. “After the second set, during the bathroom break, I gave myself a motivational speech in front of a mirror. I had to manage to raise my level. It doesn’t always work, but here it worked,” he admitted.
His opponent, who had put a lot of energy in the first two sets, did not hold the shock and the “Djoker” went it alone in the last three sets. He concluded on his second match point after 3h45 of duel. “It is almost two in the morning and there are still a lot of people in the stands. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!” he told the audience. “Now I have to rest well for this 36-year-old body to recover for the next round,” he concluded just before leaving the Arthur-Ashe court.
Djokovic is aiming for a fourth trophy at the US Open to equal Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24 Grand Slam titles. The main contenders in his half of the table who could have prevented him from reaching the final (Holger Rune, Casper Ruud or even Stefanos Tsitsipas) have already been eliminated, while, at the top of the table, his now main rival Carlos Alcaraz can still find Jannik Sinner, Daniil Medvedev or Andrey Rublev on his way.
