{"id":198829,"date":"2025-09-04T06:14:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T06:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/198829\/"},"modified":"2025-09-04T06:14:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T06:14:10","slug":"djokovic-38-faces-alcaraz-22-in-the-us-open-semifinals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/198829\/","title":{"rendered":"Djokovic, 38, faces Alcaraz, 22, in the US Open semifinals"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Novak Djokovic is 38<\/a> and trying to conquer a younger man\u2019s game as he heads into the U.S. Open<\/a> semifinals on Friday. It\u2019s been two years since his most recent Grand Slam title<\/a>, which \u2014 to him \u2014 must feel like an eternity.<\/p>\n

Last season was his first without earning at least one since 2017. And Djokovic is clear that, at this point in his career, those big trophies from the sport\u2019s four biggest events<\/a> are all he really cares about. <\/p>\n

At this year\u2019s three other major tournaments, he exited in the semifinals, two after getting hurt: quitting at the Australian Open because of a torn hamstring and clearly limited at Wimbledon<\/a> by an injured groin muscle. He hadn\u2019t competed anywhere since leaving the All England Club in July until arriving at Flushing Meadows.<\/p>\n

Novak Djokovic faces Carlos Alcaraz next, possibly Jannik Sinner after that<\/p>\n

Now Djokovic is back in the final four in New York, and there\u2019s a daunting road ahead. Next up is No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz<\/a>, who is 22. Win that, and a final on Sunday against No. 1 Jannik Sinner<\/a>, 23, could await, if the defending champion beats Felix Auger-Aliassime, 25, in the semifinals Friday.<\/p>\n

Sinner defeated Lorenzo Musetti in the quarterfinals 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

After reaching a 53rd major semifinal, and 14th at the U.S. Open, by eliminating No. 4 seed Taylor Fritz<\/a>, 27, in four sets Tuesday night, Djokovic fiddled with his beard while pondering what\u2019s to come.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, it\u2019s not going to get easier, I\u2019ll tell you that,\u201d he said with a wry smile. \u201cI\u2019m going to try to take one day at a time. Really take care of my body. Try to relax and recover. The next couple of days is really key for me to really get my body in shape and ready to battle five sets, if it\u2019s needed. I just would really love that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Djokovic has been to 37 Slam finals and won 24 \u2014 but none at age 38<\/p>\n

Djokovic already owns nearly every record of any significance in men\u2019s tennis, including 24 major championships<\/a>, 37 major final appearances and the most weeks at No. 1 in the rankings.<\/p>\n

And so on.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s new for him is adjusting to contending at this age. <\/p>\n

\u201cNormally I like to play the big matches on a big stage. It\u2019s just that I\u2019m not really sure how the body is going to feel in the next few days. But I\u2019m going to do my very best with my team to be fit for that,\u201d Djokovic said. \u201cThere\u2019s going to be a lot of running involved, that\u2019s for sure. It\u2019s not going to be short points.\u201d<\/p>\n

Djokovic is 5-3 against US Open semifinal opponent Alcaraz<\/p>\n

He owns a 5-3 head-to-head mark against Alcaraz<\/a>, who has won five Slam titles already and combined with Sinner to claim the last seven and nine of the past 12.<\/p>\n

Not to be forgotten: The other three in that span went to Djokovic, most recently at the 2023 U.S. Open<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have another chance, another shot. Hopefully … I can be fit enough and play well enough to keep up with Carlos,\u201d Djokovic said. \u201cThen it can be anybody\u2019s match.\u201d<\/p>\n

Djokovic won the two most recent meetings against the dynamic Alcaraz \u2014 in the Australian Open quarterfinals<\/a> this January and in the gold-medal final at the Paris Olympics<\/a> last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really want revenge,\u201d Alcaraz said. \u201cThat\u2019s obvious.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alcaraz reached the final at his past 7 tournaments, winning 5 titles<\/p>\n

Alcaraz has been preposterously dominant over the past 1 1\/2 weeks, not dropping a set in the tournament, and for much of 2025, leading the tour with six titles and a 59-6 record. <\/p>\n

Since April, he is 43-2, winning tournaments at Monte-Carlo, Rome, Roland-Garros, Queen\u2019s Club and Cincinnati. The two losses came in finals \u2014 at Barcelona (against Holger Rune) and Wimbledon (against Sinner).<\/p>\n

Djokovic knows what Alcaraz and Sinner<\/a> have done lately.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t need to spend words about the two of them. We know that they are two best players in the world,\u201d said Djokovic, who lost to Sinner in the semifinals of the French Open and Wimbledon. \u201cEverybody is probably expecting and anticipating (a U.S. Open final) between the two of them. I\u2019m going to try to mess up the plans of most of the people.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then Djokovic added: \u201cI definitely am not going with a white flag on the court.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Howard Fendrich has been the AP\u2019s tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: https:\/\/apnews.com\/author\/howard-fendrich<\/a>. More AP tennis: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/tennis<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Novak Djokovic is 38 and trying to conquer a younger man\u2019s game as he…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":198830,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[1466,10595,10642,57,4145,18826,1824,107680,403,9125,34294,62,12335,1464,62213,67,132,68,107],"class_list":{"0":"post-198829","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-carlos-alcaraz","9":"tag-cincinnati","10":"tag-felix-auger-aliassime","11":"tag-general-news","12":"tag-holger-rune","13":"tag-howard-fendrich","14":"tag-jannik-sinner","15":"tag-lorenzo-musetti","16":"tag-new-york-city","17":"tag-novak-djokovic","18":"tag-rome","19":"tag-sports","20":"tag-taylor-fritz","21":"tag-tennis","22":"tag-u-s-open-tennis-championships","23":"tag-united-states","24":"tag-unitedstates","25":"tag-us","26":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115144560892427745","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198829","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=198829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198829\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}