2023-09-02 06:22:33
NEW YORK (AP) — By now, everyone should know that Novak Djokovic is impossible to count as dead. It doesn’t matter how big his handicap is, or how badly he is playing at one point in the game.
Thus, it is almost normal that the Serb has recovered from a two-set deficit to prevail on Saturday morning over Laslo Djere, 4-6, 4-6, 6-1, 6-1, 6-3, in the third round of the US Open. avoiding what would have been his earliest elimination at Flushing Meadows since 2006.
“Believe me, I was on edge the whole game, right down to the last shot,” Djokovic said.
The match began under the lights of Arthur Ashe Stadium on Friday night and didn’t take place until three and a half hours later, just after 1:30 a.m.
It was the eighth victory achieved by Djokovic in a duel in which he has lost the first two sets. He also improved to 38-11 in five-setters during his career.
Once he took control, he kept it and never allowed Djere to take it back. Early in the fifth set, Djokovic displayed amazing calm, winning 12 of the opening 14 points to leave no doubt as to who would win this marathon.
The Balkan star has won three of his 23 Grand Slam tournament titles at Flushing Meadows. No one else has such a number of trophies in majors.
And half a dozen times, Dokovic has played in the final in New York, including in 2001. The 36-year-old veteran did not compete here last year as he was unable to travel to the United States as a foreigner unvaccinated against COVID-19.
That rule was lifted in May.
Djokovic is the second seed in the tournament, behind the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz. And almost everyone expects the two to face each other in the final on September 10.
It would be a repeat of the duel they played in July for the Wimbledon scepter. The Spaniard prevailed in five sets.
For a moment, it looked as though that prognosis would be shattered by Djere, who is also a Serb, 28, and is seeded 32nd at the US Open.
But the reaction came with the stamp of Djokovic. In the end, both embraced before the network.
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