Novak Djokovic still has no size, not even at this US Open. The 36-year-old Serbian defeated the American Ben Shelton in three sets in almost three hours: 3-6, 2-6, (2)6-7. He is in a Grand Slam final for the 36th time in his career.
This edition of the US Open, where Djokovic was welcome again after he was refused last year because he had not been vaccinated for the coronavirus, several records were broken. Djokovic was in a semi-final of a grand slam for the 47th time. He thus definitively dethroned Roger Federer. The retired Swiss managed that 46 times.
Djokovic also already holds the record number of Grand Slam victories: 23. The Spaniard Rafael Nadal follows at 22 and Federer is at 20. The question is whether Nadal will match that number. He is currently recovering from hip surgery, which he underwent in June and will require about five months of rehabilitation. He is now 37 years old and his body is increasingly failing him.
Djokovic is now in his 36th Grand Slam final, a milestone he previously stole from Chris Evert, who reached her 34th final in 1988. Djokovic did it this time by winning the semi-final mainly on the number of unforced errors. Especially the lack thereof. He hit only 25 compared to 43 from Shelton, the unseeded number 47 in the ATP rankings and the service gun from America.
Service gun Shelton
With his serve, Shelton easily reaches speeds of over 200 kilometers per hour, with peaks approaching 240. He failed to win the third set and ultimately lost the tiebreak. The American could not stop Djokovic with his biggest weapon.
Once again Djokovic in a Grand Slam final, his fourth this year and tenth in New York, just like Bill Tilden. Now he has Margaret Court in his sights. She is the most successful tennis player in history on the women’s and men’s circuit with 24 grand slam wins.
If Djokovic wants to equal that number, he will have to deal with Daniil Medvedev in the final on Sunday. He defeated Carlos Alcaraz in four sets in his semi-final: 7-6 (3), 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. In recent weeks, tennis fans were hoping for a final between Djokovic and Alcaraz, a repeat of the final battle at Wimbledon. Instead, they will get a repeat of the 2021 US Open final.
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