Djokovic US Open triumph would put icing on the cake for Olympic champion

LONDON (Agencies): Having scaled his Mount Olympus this month to claim the Olympic gold medal that had eluded him, Novak Djokovic has nothing left to prove and can put more daylight between himself and his two historic rivals by winning another major at the U.S. Open. The 37-year-old Serbia great fell to his knees and sobbed into the Parisian clay after beating young gun Carlos Alcaraz to complete the “Golden Slam” and put an exclamation mark on his already cemented status as the GOAT of men’s tennis. Djokovic won his 24th Grand Slam title in New York last year to move two ahead of Spaniard Rafa Nadal, whose career is winding down and who will not compete at the year’s final major, and four clear of retired Swiss maestro Roger Feeder. Djokovic, Nadal and Federer once comprised the Big Three that had a two-decade long stranglehold on the men’s game but the current world number two is last man standing this year.

“He’s looking to sort of separate himself from Federer and Nadal, that’s really is what it boils down to,” former world number one turned ESPN broadcaster John McEnroe told reporters. “He seems to have already done that in a way. He’s won the Olympics, won everything, won more than those guys. To me, you’d have to ask him, but it (more success) is gravy. He sort of put himself there already.” Djokovic’s Paris triumph was all the more impressive as it came two months after knee surgery and was against Alcaraz, the 21-year-old Spaniard who thrashed him in this year’s Wimbledon final in what felt like it might be a changing of the guard. Djokovic got a hero’s welcome from the thousands on hand to greet him when he returned to Belgrade on Monday, and has called the Olympic title “the biggest sporting achievement I have had.” The affection he felt in Serbia’s capital stands in contrast to the at times frosty reception he has received from tennis fans around the world who fell in love with Federer and Nadal before Djokovic came along and usurped his rivals.

 Medvedev, Zverev out to play spoiler role at US Open:

Meanwhile, Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev are among the contenders who can upend pre-tournament favourites Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic at the U.S. Open while Taylor Fritz is the best bet for ending America’s long wait for a men’s Grand Slam champion. Former U.S. Open champion Medvedev may not have had the best lead-up to the U.S. Open but the self-proclaimed Russian hard-court specialist has the tools to deny Alcaraz and Djokovic another New York title. World number five Medvedev, whose sole Grand Slam title came at the 2021 U.S. Open where he beat Djokovic in the final, has made no secret of his preference for hardcourts and the ease with which he moves on the surface has been evident this year. On the hard courts, Medvedev reached this year’s Australian Open final, where he lost to Jannik Sinner, made the semi-final in Dubai, lost to Alcaraz in the Indian Wells title match before falling again to Italian Sinner in the semis at Miami.

While Medvedev lost his opening match in a pair of U.S. Open tune-up events in Montreal and Cincinnati, he has a knack for turning up his game at the U.S. Open where has become a fan-favourite after once basking in boos from the New York crowd. French Open finalist Zverev, still seeking his first Grand Slam title, comes into the U.S. Open on the heels of a tune-up in Cincinnati where the German lost in the semi-finals to eventual champion and world number one Sinner. Zverev is one of the sport’s most consistent performers this year and his 49 wins in 2024 leads all players on the ATP Tour. Russia’s Andrey Rublev, who has made the New York quarter-finals in the last two years, will also arrive in New York full of belief after reaching the Montreal final and the last eight in his other two tune-up events. Meanwhile, no American man has won a Grand Slam since Andy Roddick triumphed at the 2003 U.S. Open, and this year Fritz appears to offer the best shot at a homegrown winner.