No opponent, or whatever is at stake, is likely not too high to handle. not yet anyway. And he is now two wins away from the first calendar-year Grand Slam in men's tennis since 1969, as well as the men's record 21st major championships overall.
Djokovic sailed the opening set for a third consecutive match at Flushing Meadows - and for the ninth time at a Major in 2021 - but again it didn't matter, as he quickly corrected his stroke and conceded No. 6 seed Matteo Berrettini to 5. -7, beat 6. -2, 6-2, 6-3 in a quarter-final that began on Wednesday night and ended after midnight on Thursday.
During his on-court interview, Djokovic cut out a question, realizing where it was going, and added: "Don't ask me anything about history. I know it's there. "
As he came back and improved 26-0 in the Grand Slam game this season, Djokovic found every angle, thwarted every big Berrettini shot, and was locked in a dove and dropped his racket during an exchange. Gave up, still scrambled, rose and rejoined himself. Point. He lost it, but the message to his enemy was unmistakable, essentially, "I will do whatever I can."
After 17 unforced errors in the first set, Djokovic scored a total of 11 runs the rest of the way.
"I've played the best three sets in the tournament, for sure," he said.
When Berrettini made a last stand, Djokovic stabilized himself by grabbing a break point while trailing 4-2 in the third set. He let Berrettini put a backhand into the net, then accelerated to a 121 mph and a forehand lined up to catch the winner, then pointed his right index finger to his ear - asking 20,299 in the Arthur Ashe Stadium stand. One of the many gestures for noise.
Four minutes later that set was theirs. And 42 minutes later there was the match.
Berrettini, who lost to Djokovic after taking the first set of the Wimbledon final, said: "He has this ability - and perhaps that's why he is the best ever - just to raise his game, his level all the time." "It doesn't matter how well I play, he just plays better."
Djokovic has already earned trophies on hard courts at the Australian Open in February, clay courts at the French Open in June and grass courts at Wimbledon in July.
Djokovic has registered five victories on the hard courts of the US Open and will now face 2020 runner-up Alexander Zverev in Friday's semifinals. If Djokovic can win that match and Sunday's final, he will join Don Buzz (1938) and Rod Laver (1962 and 1969) as the only man to claim all four major tennis singles trophies in a season . (Three women have done it, most recently Steffi Graf in 1988; Serena Williams' bid ended in a US Open semifinal in 2015).
Another Slam title would also break Djokovic's career mark he currently shares with rivals Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
Zverev progresses to the semi-finals on a 16-match winning streak, including a 1-6, 6-3, 6-1 semi-final win against Djokovic on his way to a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
Djokovic looked ahead and said, "I'm pumped." "The greater the challenge, the greater the glory in overcoming it."
The other men's semi-finalist is No. 2 Daniil Medvedev, a two-time major finalist, against No. 12 Felix Auger-Aliassim. They won the quarterfinals on Tuesday.
German No. 4 seed Zverev, 24, advanced on Wednesday afternoon to beat Lloyd Harris 7-6 (6), 6-3, 6-4.
Hours later, both Djokovic and Berrettini showed signs of neuralgia on a humid evening with temperatures of 75 degrees and humidity 80%. Three-time U.S. There was applause, whistles and roars before open champion Djokovic made the opening serve at 124 mph.
Banned from the tournament a year ago due to the coronavirus pandemic, fans are clearly enjoying being a part of it all again.
He used Djokovic's nickname, "No-lay! No-lay!" and a shortened version of Berrettini's first name, "Mat-te! Mat-te!" Some applauded Djokovic's missed serve, which is considered a no-no in the game, and some - perhaps the same people - mourned Berrettini's faults with a communal "Awwwww".
Djokovic's form was not at his best early on, with more mistakes than he could fathom – he rolled his eyes, placed a palm on his forehead, grumbled at those in his squad.
Berrettini uses his 6-foot-5, 209-pound frame to generate punishing power in the serve and forehand; Djokovic called him the "hammer of tennis".
But if there's one player equipped to buck that style, it's Djokovic, whose instincts, reflexes, agility and maneuverability are superior. Therefore, unlike most other players, he can return the serve at 131 mph and not only get it into play, but can do so with enough intent to lead a missed backhand by Berrettini, as in That's when Djokovic took a 3-1 lead in the second set. .
Nevertheless, Berrettini did manage to grab the opening set of 77 minutes.
"Probably every other player out there, I would have felt like, 'Okay, now I'm going to go. Of course he's going to be a little tired too. I like [take] with my game, with my energy and everything. I can,' said Berrettini. "With her, it seems she doesn't care."
Djokovic largely confirmed this, saying: "I managed to forget about it, move on."
He lost the first set in the third round, against Kei Nishikori, and against Jenson Brooksby in the fourth, before winning both four times. He also did against Berrettini at Wimbledon.
"When I dropped the first set, I went to a different level and I stayed there until the last point," Djokovic said of his latest win. "It's something that definitely encourages me and gives me a lot of confidence."
He cleaned up his act by cutting down on errors with three in the second set and three in the third, during which the retractable roof came off due to expected rain.
Stopping the bus service turned out to be an ordeal for Berrettini, so much so that he heaved a sigh of relief when he finally held on after breaking three times in the span of four games in the middle two sets. However, by then he had given second and was 3–0 behind in the third. The fourth also reached that score and Djokovic was one step closer to his goal.
"Of course I know history, of course that inspires me," Djokovic told his news conference. “If I start thinking about it too much, it burdens me mentally. I really want to go back to basics and mentally do what really works for me.”