Well-rested Novak Djokovic eyes glory at US Open

Serbia’s Novak Djokovic will be bracing himself for another tough outing, this time at the US Open. The 38-year-old, who is regarded as the greatest player in the history of men’s tennis in the singles category in the Open era, having won as many as 24 Grand Slam titles, is going through a mixed season.

Djokovic has featured in 35 matches overall and won 26 of them, but despite that, he has only managed to lift one title, which was the Geneva Open, where he defeated Hubert Hurkacz in the final with a score of 5-7, 7-6, 7-6. It was his first ATP title since the start of 2024. That was Djokovic’s 100th title at the highest level, and he became the third men’s player in the history of tennis in the Open era to win 100 titles in his career. He is only behind former world number ones Jimmy Connors of America and Roger Federer of Switzerland.

Despite edging closer towards the end of his career, Djokovic produced some impressive performances in the Grand Slams this year. He has featured in the semifinal of every major event this year but has unfortunately not been able to get past that stage. On at least two out of those three occasions, Djokovic struggled physically to produce a positive result.

At the Australian Open, Djokovic was forced to retire in the semifinal after losing the first set with a score of 7-6. He suffered the injury during the quarterfinal win against Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz, where, despite struggling with fitness concerns, he went on to win the contest with a score of 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4. Later at Wimbledon, Djokovic faced a similar situation. He suffered a nasty fall on the match point of the quarterfinal win against Flavio Cobolli. The final score of that match was 6-7, 6-2, 7-5, 6-4.

Well-rested

That injury had an impact in the semifinal as he lost to world number one Jannik Sinner in straight sets with a score of 6-3, 6-3, 6-4. Sinner then went on to lift the title after beating Alcaraz in the final with a score of 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. After losing in the semifinal of Wimbledon, Djokovic, for the first time, in very clear words, admitted that age is catching up with him. Djokovic stated that he believes he is playing exceptionally well in the early phase of the competition, but things become tougher for him when he reaches the later stages of the tournament and faces players like Sinner and Alcaraz.

"I think, regardless of the fact that I haven't won a Grand Slam this year, or last year, I still feel like I continue to play my best tennis at Grand Slams," said Djokovic back then. “Those are the tournaments that I care about at this stage of my career the most. It's just age, the wear and tear of the body. As much as I'm taking care of it, the reality hits me right now, last year and a half, like never before, to be honest. It's tough for me to accept that because I feel like when I'm fresh, when I'm fit, I can still play really good tennis. I've proven that this year. But I guess playing best-of-five, particularly this year, has been a real struggle for me physically. The longer the tournament goes the worse the condition gets. I reach the final stages, I reached the semis of every Slam this year, but I have to play Sinner or Alcaraz. These guys are fit, young, sharp. I feel like I'm going into the match with the tank half empty. It's just not possible to win a match like that.”

The most interesting aspect of Djokovic’s participation at the US Open this year will be the fact that he has not played in any singles event since taking part at Wimbledon. He will be well-rested and will begin his match against Learner Tien. It will be the first-ever meeting between the two players in professional tennis.