{"id":394217,"date":"2025-09-03T09:38:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T09:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/394217\/"},"modified":"2025-09-03T09:38:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T09:38:11","slug":"novak-djokovic-gives-his-thoughts-on-having-to-face-carlos-alcaraz-in-the-us-open-semi-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/394217\/","title":{"rendered":"Novak Djokovic gives his thoughts on having to face Carlos Alcaraz in the US Open semi-finals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Novak Djokovic is into yet another Grand Slam semi-final, and in doing so has set up the clash that everybody wanted with Carlos Alcaraz.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It will mark just the ninth iteration of their remarkable rivalry, which already boasts some legendary clashes.<\/p>\n<p>However, Friday afternoon promises to be one of the most crucial, pitting the rampant form of the Spaniard against the steady, ageless quality of the 38-year-old superstar.<\/p>\n<p>Naturally, both have enjoyed strong runs to reach this stage of the <a href=\"https:\/\/tennishead.net\/tag\/us-open\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">US Open<\/a>, but <a href=\"https:\/\/tennishead.net\/tag\/carlos-alcaraz\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Carlos Alcaraz\u2019s<\/a> has undeniably been more impressive.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/tennishead.net\/tag\/novak-djokovic\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Novak Djokovic<\/a> would emphasise as much when asked for his thoughts on facing him for a spot in the final.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Novak Djokovic rates Carlos Alcaraz\u2019s US Open run so far<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Chatting courtside in an interview published on the US Open\u2019s X account, he spoke in Spanish as he previewed his clash with his great Spanish rival.<\/p>\n<p>Djokovic admitted: \u201cHaving gone all this way without dropping a set, it\u2019s impressive, but Carlos has been impressive for the last 3 years in all tournaments. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s a spectacle for us. The last time I played against him was in Australia, but the conditions are different here. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI hope I can feel my best, playing with the ball, because it\u2019s necessary to beat someone like Alcaraz.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This only adds to the adulation aimed at the youngster, with <a href=\"https:\/\/tennishead.net\/carlos-alcaraz-reacts-to-what-jiri-lehecka-said-about-him-following-their-us-open-quarter-final\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Alcaraz having reacted to Jiri Lehecka\u2019s praise<\/a> after their quarter-final match yesterday.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Novak Djokovic\u2019s head-to-head record vs Carlos Alcaraz<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As noted earlier, Friday will be the ninth time they have met on court.<\/p>\n<p>Djokovic does lead their head-to-head narrowly, having won five of their eight clashes so far.<\/p>\n<p>However, he only established that separation in the last 12 months, having beaten Alcaraz in the Olympics final last summer, before knocking him out of the Australian Open earlier this year.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/GettyImages-2162278732-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Day Fourteen: The Championships - Wimbledon 2024\" class=\"wp-image-307493\" \/>Photo by Simon Bruty\/Anychance\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Before that, Alcaraz had enjoyed far more success over him, beating him in back-to-back Wimbledon finals.<\/p>\n<p>Whilst Jannik Sinner has proved almost impossible for Djokovic to compete with, his generational rival feels far more beatable.<\/p>\n<p>If he is to win his record-breaking 25th Grand Slam title here at the US Open, it seems like he\u2019ll have to go through both of them, starting with the in-form Alcaraz on Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Novak Djokovic is into yet another Grand Slam semi-final, and in doing so has set up the clash&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":394218,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4105],"tags":[6359,4295,79,1068,16,15,5067],"class_list":{"0":"post-394217","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-carlos-alcaraz","9":"tag-novak-djokovic","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-tennis","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-us-open"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115139701165272584","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=394217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394217\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/394218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=394217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=394217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=394217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}