Novak Djokovic gets into it with US Open crowd and improves to 11-0 against Taylor Fritz

By Howard Fendrich

Novak Djokovic took an advance in two sets against Taylor Fritz, an opponent whom he still beats, to close in the semi-finals, a round he often reaches at the US Open, and marked the opportunity by exploding kisses to those of the crowd on Tuesday evening pulling for the last American man on the ground.

It was only a pre-Dos between Djokovic and some of the people of the Arthur Ashe stadium seats, and there was still work that remained, but he would finish a 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 victory. Djokovic improved at 11-0 against Fritz in 2024 and reached a record semi-final of 53rd Grand Colem, a total which includes a record of 14 at Flushing Meadows.

“In the end, a victory counts. I am really proud of the fight I put. I have my heart on my round, always, for this sport. So I still appreciate it,” said Djokovic. “It was really anyone’s match. … For most of the second and third sets, he was the best player. The latter match was scary.”

He needed three match points to end it, and leaned, hands on his knees, after the first two resulted in long rallies that followed the Fritz path. But on the last, the competition ended in an anticlimactic way with a double fault of Fritz, n ° 4, whose exit means that the American drought will continue without a male champion in simple to any major since 2003, when Andy Roddick won in New York.

Friday, Djokovic will play in his fourth semi-final of the season and will face the five-year major champion Carlos Alcaraz, who did not drop a set in the tournament. He was winner 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 against Jiri Lehecka n ° 20 Tuesday earlier.

Djokovic leads the head of N ° 2 Alcaraz 5-3 head-to-head, winning their two most recent games-in the Australian quarter-final Open in January and in the Paris Olympic Games last year, when the Serbian finally achieved his wish to win a gold medal for his country.

The last two quarter-male finals are on Wednesday: Alex de Minaur against Felix Auger-Aliassime, and the defending champion Jannik Sinner against Lorenzo Musetti in an all-night confrontation at night.

Tuesday evening, the two men were fully dressed in black – shirts, shorts, socks and shoes. Even the Djokovic bracelets were black, just like Fritz’s headband, which he had pain at the start, so white lettering by the name of his clothing sponsor was upside down until he made a change after the second set.

If the players of the players were alike, this is where the similarities stopped. Djokovic, who won four of his 24 large championships at the US Open, more recently in 2023, did what he usually does in Fritz – and, to be fair, almost everyone – that is to say: return masterfully, control the longest points and serve all the right places, especially in the clutch.

In short, the Djokovic, 38, was generally a step, and a thought, or two before the Fritz, 27, whose service improved in the last two sets.

Djokovic won 25 of the 42 points which lasted at least nine strokes. He saved 11 from the 13th break that he faced. And he won 10 of the 11 points when he served and volay.

Fritz came out a little trembling. Not its best portion. Not his best strokes. It was perhaps the enemy and their unilateral history. It was perhaps the setting, the scene, the issues.

It was perhaps the anterior beginning that the origin, due to the cancellation of the quarterfinals of women between Aryna Sabalenka and Marketa Vondrouso, who withdrew with an iniury knee.

Djokovic stolen Fritz’s initial service game on the way to a 3-0 lead which was soon an advantage in two sets. Fritz has made his way in the match and made things more interesting, but never advanced.

Along the way, Djokovic entered the spectators supporting his opponent, although it was worth nothing, there was a lot of support for the man who spent more time in n ° 1 than anyone in the history of tennis too.

However, there have been these applauding and applauded defects of Djokovic, considered a non-no in tennis.

He reached a head in the third set, when the faults of the faults became noisier while the clock passed at 10:30 p.m., Djokovic asked the referee Damian Dumusois, “What are you going to do?” And then repeated the words that the official continued to say in an unsuccessful attempt to settle the interruptions: “Thank you. Please. THANKS. Please.”

Soon, Fritz struck a winner of a forehand to break for a 3-1 advance in this set, he would take.

But Djokovic passed when it mattered the most.