Djokovic points to Alcaraz

One year and eleven months have passed since the last game Novak Djokovic played in the United States. 702 days since he succumbed to the pressure and fell against Daniil Medvedev in the 2021 US Open final (triple 6-4). The Serb burst into tears of impotence by not being able, at that time, to break a tie with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in the fight to be the tennis player with the greatest in history. Almost two years later things have changed, and a lot.

Nole was banned from entering the American country for not being vaccinated, but in the meantime, he won three Grand Slams along the way: Wimbledon 2022, the Australian Open 2023 and Roland Garros 2023 made him become the male tennis player with the most ‘ majors’ in history (23). This summer he was close to repeating on the London grass, but Carlos Alcaraz prevented him, a boy who in that 2021 US Open made himself known in the world of tennis and a year later was crowned by winning in New York and becoming the youngest number one in history. Now, the two battle to be the best in the world after Cincinnati. The Serbian wants the title back and the Spaniard will fight to keep it.

Sometimes it is difficult to understand, or to explain, how Novak Djokovic (37 years old, 94 titles, 23 Grand Slams and 389 weeks as number one) continues to have that hunger to compete at the highest level. “If he wasn’t motivated, he would stop playing,” says the Balkan. He is also surprised by his incessant struggle: “The truth is that it is exciting that, after almost 20 years on the circuit, I maintain that internal fire that prompted me to fight for great goals. I want to continue winning tournaments and transmitting things to people”. The current number two, who steps on the United States after the ban on the unvaccinated is lifted, returns to the courts after losing an intense final in the tennis cathedral against Alcaraz, a defeat that he soon forgot: “It is not the first match important thing that I have lost nor will it be the last, so I can say that I got over it in one day”.

The Murcian, for his part, comes from a week in Canada where the sensations were not the best. His priority is the same as in Toronto, keeping number one for the US Open, even more so if the Serb has the option of taking it from him: “It motivates me a lot to know that Djokovic can take it from me and that I have to play well to avoid it. Having the challenge of maintaining or recovering the number 1 is something that has made me play better whenever I found myself in that situation”, says the man from El Palmar, who makes his debut this morning (not before 2:30, Movistar+) against the Australian Thompson, number 55.

The uncertainty of knowing who arrives as the first seed in Flushing Meadows will continue until the final in Cincinnati. If Alcaraz wants to maintain his number one status he must win the tournament or reach the final. He also serves him with falling in the quarterfinals or semis if Djokovic does not lift the trophy on Sunday or even falling in the round of 16 if the Serbian does not reach the last round. If the opposite happens, it will be Nole who will be the leader of the classification in the great New York. There is also the possibility that both meet in a hypothetical final in Cincinnati but before that they will both have a hard road. The Spaniard would play against rivals like Tommy Paul (executioner in Canada), Casper Ruud, Rublev or Tsitsipas. While the current number two would deal with tennis players of the stature of Davidovich, Monfils, Sinner or Medvedev.

Swiatek charges against the WTA and the night sessions

In Cincinnati the women will also compete after they played in Montreal in Canada where the weather did not accompany throughout the week. The inconvenience of the rain delayed the matches until they had to be played at dawn or finished the next day. As was the case of the finalist Liudmila Samsonova who lost 6-1 and 6-0 against Jessica Pegula and played the final one hour after winning her semifinal match in three sets and which had to be played on the same Sunday due to the storm. For this reason Iga Swiatek, number one in the world, charged against the WTA: “Of course, the weather is something that we really can’t predict, but maybe we should focus more on what is healthy for the players that we have to compete every day.” weeks. In both Rome and Madrid, I played four games that ended close to or after midnight. It’s not that we finish our game and immediately go to sleep, things don’t work like that”.

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