U.S. Open: Ageless he isn't, but Novak Djokovic keeps digging deep and is still alive for major No. 25
NEW YORK — It seems like the old man has spent roughly half of this U.S. Open hunched over at the waist, grabbing at his neck or rubbing his temple. At one point earlier in the tournament, Novak Djokovic even said in an interview with ESPN that he was more concerned about the state of his body than he’d ever been.
It’s just what happens when you’re 38 years old, having accumulated so many miles on the legs, playing one of the most demanding sports on earth against opponents in their physical prime.
It hurts.
But when Djokovic takes the court, the pain always goes in two directions. And with only two exceptions, it almost defies explanation how often Djokovic still makes his opponents suffer more.
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It is those two exceptions, however, who once again stand between Djokovic and a 25th major title. It has been that way for a couple years, with Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz shoving him aside from Grand Slam glory the way generations before them were unable to do.
Now, having outlasted the highest-ranked American Taylor Fritz 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 in Tuesday’s quarterfinal, it’s time to ask: What does Djokovic need to do to hold the U.S. Open trophy one more time?
“I have another chance, another shot,” he said after Tuesday's victory earned him a trip to the semis where he'll face Alcaraz. “Everyone is anticipating a finals between the two of them. I’m going to try to mess up the plans. They are definitely playing the best tennis of any player here and they’ve been dominant since the beginning of the tournament, but I definitely am not going with a white flag on the court. I don’t think anybody does when they play them, but particularly not me.”
This U.S. Open has largely followed the same script Djokovic has experienced over the last two years. Having cut his schedule to the bare minimum, both to preserve wear-and-tear and spend more time at home with his young children, he shows up at the Grand Slams out of match shape and lacking a feel for the ball.
In the first few rounds, it looks like Djokovic is there for the taking but he’s still so darned good and tactically superior that he finds a way through. Then each day the tournament progresses, his endurance builds and shots become more punishing. By the time he gets to the quarterfinals and faces an opponent like Fritz — ranked No. 4 but 0-fer in the majors — he is a reasonable enough facsimile of Peak Djokovic to put even some of the world’s best players in a mental torture chamber.
Fritz, poor guy, is now 0-for-11 against Djokovic. At 27, he’s smack in the middle of his Slam-winning window. But as much as he tells himself he has a better chance every time they play, he’s as lost as he was at the beginning trying to figure out how to penetrate Djokovic’s game and win enough of the right points.
Even Tuesday, after dropping the first two sets, Fritz dug in and felt like he was gathering momentum the longer it went. Djokovic was visibly wearing down. As the match reached nearly 3 ½ hours, Djokovic went all-in at 5-4 in the fourth set, hoping to break Fritz and end the match. Fritz fought off two match points. Djokovic kept grabbing his shorts and gasping for breath.
It felt like a moment that could have turned the entire match around if Fritz had just held serve. He couldn’t. On the third match point, Djokovic drew a double fault — a microcosm of how Fritz and his late-20s peers simply failed to crack the code.
“That’s the frustrating thing is I don’t need to play that much better to make it happen,” said Fritz, who desperately wanted another shot at the U.S. Open title after losing last year’s final. “At end of the day, that’s one of the things that makes the great players great is they win the big points. I need to go take those points from him. He’s not going to hand them over to me, and that’s exactly what happened.”
Of course, the two players Djokovic will likely have to get through to win the title have not struggled with that dynamic.
Though Alcaraz has been more vulnerable to him, losing high-profile matchups to Djokovic at last year’s Olympics and at this Australian Open this January, he has been impervious at this U.S. Open. Playing the most consistent tennis of his career, the 22-year-old Alcaraz hasn’t even come close to dropping a set. Their match Friday in the semifinals will be the ninth time they’ve played, with Djokovic holding a 5-3 edge.
Meanwhile, Sinner has beaten Djokovic five straight times, two of them en route to major titles. The 24-year-old Italian has become almost a stylistic carbon copy of a younger Djokovic, only with more power on his groundstrokes. For Djokovic at this stage of his career, it’s perhaps the most nightmarish matchup out there.
Under the right circumstances, Djokovic can beat either of them on a given day. But beating them back-to-back for No. 25, at this stage of the game, would arguably be the greatest achievement of his career.
“It’s not going to get easier, I’ll tell you that,” he said. “But look, I’m going to try to take one day at a time and take care of my body. Try to relax and recover. The next couple days is key for me to get my body in shape and ready to battle five sets if it’s needed. I just would really love to be fit enough to play potentially five sets with Carlos. I know that my best tennis is going to be required, but I like to play big matches on a big stage.”
Even though making the semifinals of all four majors in 2025 is remarkable given how little Djokovic plays the regular tour, he is realistic enough to know how each year takes a little more out of him. He knows this might be his last, best chance.
But at least he’s given himself one, and for arguably the greatest winner we’ve seen in any sport, that’s a muscle memory even the aches and pains of being 38 years old can’t erase.
