NEW YORK – Novak Djokovic has a two-set lead against his always-beating rival Taylor Fritz, who often goes to the semifinals at the U.S. Open and comes to the game by blowing those who blow to the crowd Tuesday night, which he blows at the U.S. Open.
That’s just the smell of back and forth between some people on the seats of Djokovic and Arthur Ashe Stadium, there’s still work, but he’ll end with a win of 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4. Djokovic rose to 11-0 against 2024 runner-up Fritz and reached a record 53rd Grand Slam semi-final, including a record 14 in Flushing Meadows.
“Ultimately, victory is important. I’m very proud of the battle I’ve been putting in. I always put my heart on the sport. So I still love it.” “It’s really anyone’s game. … He’s a better player for most of the second set and third sets. The last game is unsettling.”
He needed three match points to finish the match and leaned his knees as the first two led to a long rally for Fritz. But in the end, the game ended with a double strikeback from No. 4 seed Fritz, whose exit meant that the U.S. drought would be any professional title since 2003, while Andy Roddick won any professional title in New York.
Djokovic will compete in the fourth Grand Slam semifinal of the season on Friday and compete in five-time champion Carlos Alcaraz, who has not yet competed. Earlier Tuesday, he was the 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 champion, against Jiri Lehecka.
Djokovic led the second-place seed Alcaraz to win their last two games 5-3 face-to-face – the Australian Open quarter-final in January and the final at the Paris Olympics last year, when the Serbs finally fulfilled his desire to win a gold medal for the country.
The last two men’s quarterfinals were Wednesday: Alex de Minaur vs. Felix Auger-Aliassime, and defending champion Jannik Sinner vs. Lorenzo Musetti in the all-Italian game at night.
On Tuesday night, both men were completely wearing black – shirts, shorts, socks and shoes. Even Djokovic’s wrist band was black, and Fritz’s headband was wrong at the beginning, so the white lettering of his costume sponsor’s name was upside down until he changed it after the second set.
If a player’s wake up looks like the same, that’s where the similarities stop. Djokovic won four of his 24 big titles at the U.S. Open, most recently in 2023, and he usually did something to Fritz — and, to be fair, almost everyone else — that is: skillfully return, control the longest points, and send the longest position to all the right positions, especially in the clutch.
All in all, the 38-year-old Djokovic is usually a step, an idea, leading the way over 27-year-old Fritz, whose serves get better in the last two sets.
Djokovic won 25 of his 42 points that lasted at least nine shots. He saved 11 of the 13 breakout opportunities he faced. He won 10 of 11 points when he served and volleyball.
Fritz was a little shaky. Not his best service. Not his best ground. Perhaps it is the enemy and its unilateral history. Maybe it’s the setting, the stage, the bet.
Perhaps due to the cancellation of the women’s quarterfinals of Aryna Sabalenka and Marketa Vondrousova, the beginning of an earlier plan, they were injured in a knee.
Djokovic stole Fritz’s initial service game on his way to a 3-0 lead, which was a two-set advantage. Fritz entered the game and made things more interesting, but never moved forward.
Djokovic was involved in the process, with the audience supporting his opponents, although it is worth mentioning that he also spent more time in the history of tennis than anyone else in the first place.
Nevertheless, Djokovic is considered the shortcomings of those clapping and cheering that tennis prohibits.
It hit a head in the third set, when the celebrations became more and more raucous, at 10:30 pm, Djokovic asked the chairman referee Damian Dumusois, “What should you do?” and then repeated the officials’ continually saying, trying to resolve the interruption, “Thank you. Please. Thank you. Please. Please.”
Soon, Fritz played a forehand title and led 3-1 in that game, and he would lead 3-1.
But Djokovic’s most important experience is the experience.
