For the first time this year at the U.S. Open, Novak Djokovic inched closer to looking more like Novak Djokovic in his third-round match.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Having not played a competitive singles match since Wimbledon, and winning two subpar matches to kick off the year\u2019s final Grand Slam, it was enough to bring him to a 6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-3 win over Cameron Norrie on Friday night in nearly three hours.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, there were still crucial hiccups from the 24-time Grand Slam winner that could have thrown off the match against a stronger opponent.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates after defeating Cameron Norrie of Great Britain during night six of the US Open Tennis Championships at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, Friday August 29, 2025 in Queen, New York. JASON SZENES\/ NY POST<\/p>\n
\u201cMy team wants me to suffer on the court so I can get some more minutes spent on match play,\u201d Djokovic told the broadcast after the win. \u201cIt\u2019s good that I get tested. I haven\u2019t had any matches since Wimbledon \u2026 still trying to find my groove. I think this is the best I\u2019ve played so far in the tournament.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
One test came late in the first set and it looked like Djokovic was at risk of retiring from the match for an early night at Arthur Ashe Stadium.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Novak Djokovic of Serbia hits a return to Cameron Norrie of Great Britain during night six of the US Open. JASON SZENES\/ NY POST<\/p>\n
For eight straight games in the first set, he was coming alive under the night lights, wowing with nine aces against the Englishman after having a total of 10 just a match ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Yet, after breaking the Englishman in the seventh game and powering four aces across the net to take the next for a 5-3 set lead, Djokovic started to rub and stretch out his back with a grimace on his face.\u00a0<\/p>\n
During the ninth game, he called for the trainer and on the next break he was evaluated off court, prompting a medical timeout. Worried murmurs spread throughout the crowd.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cameron Norrie of Great Britain hits a return to Novak Djokovic. JASON SZENES\/ NY POST<\/p>\n
Djokovic came back out to take the first set, 6-4, however, it was a less mobile version of himself, running after drop shots, it appeared, more gingerly. Other times, he didn\u2019t bother to make an attempt.\u00a0<\/p>\n
During a break in the second set, trainers came back out to tend to him, rubbing his back.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At the end of the match, he chuckled, \u201cIt\u2019s alright.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHave some ups and downs. Don\u2019t want to reveal too much to the opponents listening to this. I\u2019m as young as ever and as strong as ever,\u201d he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, Djokovic managed to brush it aside. He defended his service game, despite having five double faults in the set, up until a testy set tiebreak that had Djokovic yelling in frustration to his team.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As Norrie led 6-4 in the seven-point tiebreak, Djokovic got his serve back and he paid for it. He double faulted to lose the set, pouting and shaking his head back on the bench.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Novak Djokovic is moving on at the U.S. Open. JASON SZENES\/ NY POST<\/p>\n
\u201cI made some double faults,\u201d Djokovic said. \u201cI think in general, overall, I think it\u2019s the best service performance in the tournament.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, the Serbian was able to show separation in the final two sets from Norrie as the senior player at 38 with a significantly longer, successful resume.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Djokovic went on to have 18 aces on the night, tying his most ever in a match at the U.S. Open.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Djokovic will face qualifier Jan-Lennard Struff in the fourth-round on Sunday after the German shockingly took out Frances Tiafoe in three straight sets on Friday evening.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the first time this year at the U.S. Open, Novak Djokovic inched closer to looking more like…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":186423,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,405,403,5226,5225,9125,5228,5227,62,1464,67,586,132,5230,68,20886,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-186422","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-city","11":"tag-newyork","12":"tag-newyorkcity","13":"tag-novak-djokovic","14":"tag-ny","15":"tag-nyc","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-tennis","18":"tag-united-states","19":"tag-united-states-of-america","20":"tag-unitedstates","21":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","22":"tag-us","23":"tag-us-open-tennis","24":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115115907155008126","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186422"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186422\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}