By- Sinjini Mitra
The 38 year old Serbian player, Novak Djokovic kept his quest for a record 25th Grand slam title alive on Tuesday with a hard fought 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 win over the American player Taylor Fritz to reach the U.S. Open semifinals. Djokovic who arrived at the Arthur Ashe stadium has previously defeated Fritz in all 10 of their earlier encounters, but he had to fight hard to move past last year’s runner-up and stay on track for a record 25th major title.
“It was an incredibly close match. It was really anybody’s match. I thought I was lucky to really save crucial breakpoints in the second set” stated by Djokovic. “For most of the second and third set he was the better player. In these kinds of matches few points decide the winner. It was fortunately coming on my side, particularly in the end of the fourth set”
After a powerful start, Djokovic came under a lot of pressure in the ninth game of the match and saved five breakpoints to close out the opening set on serve before a stunning crosscourt winner from deep sealed another tight hold in the next set. Frit, the last American man left in the draw, had put up a strong fight and left in a draw, finally broke on his 11th attempt but failed to make the most of the chance and set himself 2 sets down. Djokovic squandered two match points and in the following match points in the following game before Fritz double faulted to hand him the victory, which resulted to serb’s record tp 16-0 against Americans at the U.S. open.
The last game was nerve-wracking, honestly, a tough one for Taylor to finish up with a double fault. He didn’t deserve that, but a great fight and great tournament for him” stated by Djokovic.” I didn’t feel like I was dominating from the back of the court, In many of my service games, I was just trying to stay alive and fight for every ball..I’m proud of the fight I put in, I wear my heart on my sleeve for this sport, and I’m still enjoying it.” Said the serb.
Djokovic who is looking for his fifth title at Flushing Meadows, celebrates his win in a style, breaking into a playful dance on Arthur Ashe stadium dedicating it to his daughter on her birthday, “The dance in the end, she going to to rate me tomorrow on how good the dance was” he laughed,. “She told me how to dance. It’s K-pop Demon hunter…soda pop is the name of the song. Obviously it’s a big thing globally for teenagers and for kids, but I didn’t know it before, my daughter told me a few months ago about it. So we are at home doing choreography and this is one of them, hopefully I will make her smile when she wakes up tomorrow morning”
With the victory in the Quarters, Djokovic now turns his attention to Alcaraz for the semi finals in what promises to be another generational showdown in New York.