September 11, (THEWILL) – World number one tennis player Novak Djokovic remained on course to rewrite history as he sailed through the Alexander Zverev hurdle to set up a US Open final meeting against Daniil Medvedev in his attempt to complete the first men’s singles calendar-year Grand Slam since 1969.
There was a lot riding on his semi-final against the opponent who defeated him at the recently concluded Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Zverev was the only man to have beaten the top tennis champion this year with Djokovic seeming at the height of his powers.
It was obvious in Friday’s semifinal that Zverev knew how to play the Serb but Djokovic, who had his sights on history was not about to let himself lose to Zverev a second time. The top-ranked 34-year-old outlasted the German fourth seed 4-6 6-2 6-4 4-6 6-2 in a five set thriller worthy of a Major semi-final.
Aiming to become the first man to complete a calendar Grand Slam, that involves winning all the Majors within a calendar year, since Rod Laver accomplished the feat 52 years ago, the Serb dug into his reserves of talent and experience to see off an equally determined German looking to add to his Olympic gold medal from Tokyo.
Djokovic left everything on the court in the semi-final, demonstrating all of his battling qualities and resilience after losing the first set to overcome Zverev and keep himself one victory away from sealing the historic feat of a calendar Grand Slam. And in Zverev, he found a worthy adversary, who was ready to go the distance.
With his sights also on the all-time men’s record of total Grand Slams, Djokovic played with the awareness that victory in Sunday’s final will not only give him his fourth career US Open title but take his tally to 21 overall Slams, effectively lifting him one above the all-time record he shares with the other two modern greats: Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.
While the legend himself, the 83-year-old Australian tennis icon Laver watched from the stands, the world number one tennis player proceeded to earn a measure of vengeance for the disappointment of losing an Olympic gold and the possibility of reaching a “Golden Slam” if he had added the gold in Tokyo to his imminent calendar Grand Slam.
The early advantage that Zverev earned by taking the first set 6-4 was immediately cancelled out when Djokovic responded with aplomb to level the sets in the second, that finished 6-2. Then, the Serb thrilled the crowd with undoubtedly one of the greatest games seen at the US Open to break Zverev’s serve at 5-4 up to win the third set.
It was a set that illustrated the best of tennis between two of the top players and at one point included a ludicrous 53-shot rally which Zverev won. Yet, unlike the Tokyo Games, Djokovic did not come close to losing his cool demeanour choosing instead to consistently deliver irresistibly exquisite groundstrokes.
Zverev turned the tables to devastating effect in the fourth set, playing much more aggressively from the back of the court to stun his opponent and break the Serb’s serve. He kept up the pressure on Djokovic’s serve and balanced the number one’s net game with returns that gave him enough to take the fourth set and balance the match.
Zverev was on the ascendant drive as the momentum had shifted in his favour. Yet, as he had done at times like these all through his rise to the top, Djokovic responded in characteristic fashion to roar back into control. He broke Zverev with quite unbelievable hitting and unerring consistency to establish a 5-0 fifth set lead in rapid time.
There was no coming back from that point as Zverev only did enough to take two games to avoid falling to a bagel in the final set but it was too little too late and Djokovic finished it off 6-2 for the chance at history that had been beckoning on him since he bagged the titles at the Australian Open, Roland Garros and Wimbledon this year.
Excited with his progress, the Serb said at a post-match interview: “These are the moments we live for. These are the kind of unique opportunities we dream of when we are looking for motivation.
“I knew coming onto the court it was going to be a great battle,” Djokovic said. “Alexander is a big champion. He’s someone I admire on and off the court.”
Djokovic made it abundantly clear that he knew what was at stake on Sunday against Medvedev: “I’m going to treat the next match like it’s the last match of my career. There’s only one more match left. All in. Let’s do it. I’m going to put my heart and my soul and my body and my head into that one.”
As THEWILL reported, Medvedev, the 2019 US Open runner-up, defeated Canadian 12th seed Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-4, 7-5, 6-2 to reach his third career Slam final.
Djokovic previously defeated Medvedev earlier in the year when both met in February’s Australian Open final. As THEWILL reported at the time, the lopsided final was wrapped up in straight sets 7-5 6-2 6-2 at Melbourne Park and included Djokovic breaking Medvedev’s serve seven times over the course of the match.
But, Medvedev, who trails Djokovic 5-3 in their all-time rivalry, will be looking to improve on that. The German knows how high the stakes involved are. It was obvious when he said: “If I can make this, I’ll probably be in the history books a little bit somewhere like not letting him do this. But I don’t really care about it. I think it’s more about him, that it affects him.
“I’m just going to throw it everything and I’m definitely not going to be thinking about Grand Slam or whatever.”
Although playing some of the best tennis at the moment, Djokovic will be the oldest US Open finalist since Andre Agassi, who was 35 when he reached the final in 2005. Should he defeat Medvedev, the Serb will be the oldest US Open champion since Ken Rosewall, who was 35 in 1970 when he lifted the US Open trophy.
The top ranked player, whose stay as number one is a continuously extending record by the week, also matched Federer’s all-time record of 31 men’s Slam final appearances with his victory over Zverev.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
