Novak Djokovic inherited the best part of the table possible. And yet the other big favorite of the tournament almost took the door in the second round against his compatriot Laslo Djere. Led two sets to nothing, the man with 23 Grand Slam titles was one set away from suffering the shock of the day.
But it’s one thing to put his back against the wall, it’s another to push him through. Djere (n°32), like many, learned it the hard way in the middle of the night in New York when he saw the Djoker gradually recover all his delay (4-6, 4-6, 6-1, 6 -1, 6-3).
“There were actually two matches,” commented Djokovic. “But despite what the score says, it was also close in the second and third sets. He played amazing. I had never seen him play like that. I spent two sets defending. I don’t think you can talk about a psychological advantage when you’re down two sets to zero, but when I won the third set I felt like I was back in the game, that I had the hand on him. I upped my game, got better at reading his and served well when I needed to.”
“A strong message”
Djokovic still played with fire until the end as he had to dismiss a break point by serving for the match at 5-3 in the deciding set and saw a match point fly before reaching to conclude.
“I only had a break lead, he had a chance to come back… It was really a nerve-wracking game. I’m relieved to have won it. In the end, only the victory counts and then it sends a message to the others: I am always able to win in five sets at the end of the night. Coming back from two sets is also a strong message. But I would still prefer to avoid it so I hope to find my usual path on the next round.”
A big scare in the end but still 3h48 spent on the court for this third round when we know the importance of not wasting energy in the first week. Especially since “Nole” had already spent himself in the final in Cincinnati against Carlos Alcaraz.
Djokovic will quickly be fixed on the consequences, or not, of this delay in the ignition against Djere, since he will find the Croatian qualifier Borna Gojo on Sunday for a place in the quarter-finals. Suddenly, this wide-open picture finds itself spiced up by Djokovic himself. If he is still looking for a good omen: the last time he won a match at the US Open by being down two sets to nothing, it was in 2011 against Roger Federer in the semi-finals of a tournament he would eventually win.
Novak Djokovic had beaten the Frenchman Alexandre Muller without being worried by the score (6-0, 6-2, 6-3), and the Spaniard Bernabe Zapata Miralles (6-4, 6-1, 6-1), earlier in the tournament.
Djere, 38th player in the world at the ATP, had eliminated the American Brandon Nakashima (7-5, 6-4, 6-4), and had clearly dominated the French qualifier Hugo Gaston (6-1, 6-2, 6-3).
The other posters of the third round at the US Open (Grand Slam, hard, 44,700,000 USD, results are displayed from newest to oldest):
Daniil Medvedev – Sebastian Baez: scheduled for Sunday Alexander Zverev – Grigor Dimitrov: scheduled for Saturday Nicolas Jarry – Alex De Minaur: scheduled for Saturday Stan Wawrinka – Jannik Sinner: scheduled for Saturday Arthur Rinderknech – Andrey Rublev: scheduled for Saturday Matteo Arnaldi – Cameron Norrie: scheduled for Saturday Carlos Alcaraz – Daniel Evans: scheduled for Saturday Michael Mmoh – Jack Draper: scheduled for Saturday Borna Gojo – Jiri Vesely: 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 Taylor Fritz (N.9) – Jakub Mensik (Q): 6-1, 6-2, 6-0 Dominic Stricker (Q) – Benjamin Bonzi (WC): 2-6, 7-5, 7-6 [4]3-6, 6-2 Rinky Hijikata (WC) – Zhizhen Zhang : 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 Frances Tiafoe (N.10) – Adrian Mannarino (N.22) : 4- 6, 6-2, 6-3, 7-6 [6]
Ben Shelton – Aslan Karatsev : 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 6-0 Tommy Paul (N.14) – Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (N.21) : 6-1, 6-0, 3-6, 6-3
2023-09-02 18:17:30
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