{"id":403543,"date":"2025-09-06T20:49:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T20:49:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/403543\/"},"modified":"2025-09-06T20:49:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T20:49:11","slug":"tennis-icon-drives-eight-hours-to-join-novak-djokovic-at-us-open-for-carlos-alcaraz-clash-tennis-sport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/403543\/","title":{"rendered":"Tennis icon drives eight hours to join Novak Djokovic at US Open for Carlos Alcaraz clash | Tennis | Sport"},"content":{"rendered":"

Novak Djokovic<\/a> will face Carlos Alcaraz<\/a> in a mouthwatering semi-final showdown at the US Open on Friday. The 38-year-old has reached the semis of all four Majors this season, but he\u2019s yet to make it to a Grand Slam final in 2025, and he knows it will be a tough task to get past Alcaraz.<\/a><\/p>\n

But he will be able to count on the support of tennis legend Monica Seles, who was seen watching Djokovic on the practice court hours before his semi-final match, and revealed that she drove eight hours to cheer on the world No. 7.<\/p>\n

Earlier this summer, Djokovic fuelled rumours that nine-time Major winner Seles could become his new coach<\/a>, suggesting she was one of the only people he could see himself working with.<\/p>\n

While nothing has been made official since then, the former world No. 1 arrived in Flushing Meadows on Friday to support Djokovic and addressed speculation that she could join his team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI came here to support Novak in his match against Carlos Alcaraz<\/a>. I know he needs all the energy possible and I will do my best to help him from the stands,\u201d Seles told SportKlub<\/a> while watching Djokovic warm up with retired ATP pro Ryan Harrison.<\/p>\n

Seles might be in town to watch Djokovic, but she won\u2019t be seen in his box. She added: \u201cI don’t want him to change anything.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m very superstitious. I just came to watch his match. I drove eight hours to support him. I’ll be here, how to say ‘under the radar’. As long as he wins.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for a potential coaching partnership, Seles said: \u201cWe won’t talk about that now. The focus is only on the semi-final so as not to waste energy. All this other stuff is not important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Djokovic enlisted Harrison as a hitting partner earlier this week<\/a>. The former world No. 40 is currently working as a pundit for Sky Sports.<\/p>\n

His brother, doubles star Christian, often trains with Djokovic. But when Christian left town, Ryan was drafted in. After their 45-minute session, Ryan shed light on Djokovic and Seles\u2019 bond.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just listening. I\u2019m a fly on the wall in those conversations so I just try to soak in the information,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever you\u2019re dealing with those emotions that they deal with and with the pressures for players that have been that successful. I think Novak knows obviously she\u2019s someone who can relate to that sort of pressure and that feeling.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo when he saw that familiar face, he went over and said hello. I think you\u2019re just trying to keep it light, acknowledge friends in the crowd, and keep it rolling.\u201d<\/p>\n

To be the first to receive the latest tennis news, join our WhatsApp community<\/a> or newsletter<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Novak Djokovic will face Carlos Alcaraz in a mouthwatering semi-final showdown at the US Open on Friday. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":403544,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4105],"tags":[6359,64156,4295,79,1068,5838,16,15,5067],"class_list":{"0":"post-403543","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-carlos-alcaraz","9":"tag-monica-seles","10":"tag-novak-djokovic","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-tennis","13":"tag-tennis-news","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-us-open"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115159326092613427","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403543","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=403543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403543\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/403544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}