Although he does not want to hear about it, the truth is that Novak Djokovic is two steps away from lifting his 21st Grand Slam trophy in New York, with which he would break the tie at 20 that he maintains with Nadal and Federer, and also to win the four majors, Australia, Roland Garros, Wimbledon and US Open, in the same year, something that only Steffi Graf, Margaret Court, have achieved, Rod Laver, Don Budge and Maureen Connolly.
The Serbian raised his level to come back in the quarterfinals against Italian Matteo Berrettini (5-7, 6-2, 6-2 and 6-3) and will face Alexander Zverev this Friday (01:00, Eurosport) in the semifinals, who arrives in top form, on a 16-win streak, with Olympic gold and the Cincinnati Masters 1,000 in his saddlebags. In addition, he won the world number one a few weeks ago in Tokyo and has only lost one set in the tournament.
He will meet, yes, with a grown Djokovic who offered a memorable performance to the rest against Berrettini, although he had to invest three and a half hours on the track, in addition to the 10:25 that he accumulated in the four previous games in which he played at idle and gave up three sets. The German has been 9:23 and is 24 years old, ten years younger than the Balkan, who is tired of being mentioned the record issue: “I’m only talking about the next game, don’t ask me about the story, I don’t want to think about it, I know it’s there, but let’s go step by step “he told Patrick McEnroe during the Arthur Ashe interview. Later, at a press conference, he explained his reaction: “I’ve already answered that question many times, it’s understandable. But I’ve had enough. If I start to think too much about it it burdens me mentally.”
Annoyed audience
ANDThe other but for Nole is the public, which bothers him greatly. The behavior of a spectator again drove him crazy to the point that the drama of last year could be repeated, when he was disqualified for hitting a linesman. He cleared a shipment from Berrettini badly and miraculously missed a ball boy. “Every game that I play in this amazing stadium is an additional lesson for me and a possibility for improvement,” he said afterward.
Much calmer is Daniil Medvedev, who meets Felix Auger-Aliassime in the other semi-final (21:00). “I’m not worried about Djokovic. And I wouldn’t have minded if Nadal and Federer were there. I just think about being champion,” says the confident Russian.
Results, table and schedules.