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By: Brian Mahoney
Novak Djokovic is back at the U.S. Open and will now be back at No. 1 in the rankings.
Djokovic made a winning return after missing the tournament last year, rolling to a 6-0, 6-2, 6-3 victory over Alexandre Muller on Monday night.
The 23-time Grand Slam champion had to wait through Coco Gauff’s three-set victory to open the night session on Arthur Ashe Stadium, followed by an opening-night ceremony marking 50 years of equal prize money at the U.S. Open.
“Well, I knew it was going to be a late night for me, late start of the match,” Djokovic said. “Nevertheless, I mean, I was excited to go out on the court. I didn’t care if I started after midnight because I was looking forward to this moment for a few years, to be out on the biggest stadium in our sport, the loudest stadium in our sport, playing the night session.”
Djokovic was not allowed to travel to the U.S. last year because he is not vaccinated against COVID-19. Monday was his first match in Flushing Meadows since falling to Daniil Medvedev in the 2021 final, a loss that prevented the Serbian from completing the first calendar-year Grand Slam in men’s tennis since 1969.
The No. 2 seed took the first set in just 23 minutes and won the first eight games before Muller finally got on the board, raising his arms in triumph after cutting it to 2-1 in the second set.
“I think the performance explains how I felt tonight, particularly in the first two sets. It was kind of lights-out tennis really, almost flawless, perfect first set,” Djokovic said. “I’ve probably had the answer for every shot he had in his book.”
Djokovic improved to 17-0 in first-round matches at the U.S. Open and assured he will regain the No. 1 ranking on Sept. 11. Because he couldn’t play last year and had no rankings points to defend, Djokovic needed only get to the second round to guarantee he would take the top spot back from Carlos Alcaraz. It will be Djokovic’s 390th week atop the rankings, extending his own record.
In other professional tennis news, Daniil Medvedev sent an early message that this U.S. Open might be more than a two-man race between Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic.
The 2021 champion rolled into the second round Tuesday, beating Attila Balázs 6-1, 6-1, 6-0 in just 1 hour, 14 minutes.
“That’s probably the fastest three-set match I played,” Medvedev said.
About 12 hours after Djokovic won easily in his return to the U.S. Open, the No. 3-seeded Medvedev looked just as impressive as when he beat Djokovic for the 2021 title to deny the 23-time major champion from Serbia what would have been the first calendar-year Grand Slam in men’s tennis since 1969.
Alcaraz, the No. 1 seed, was set to begin his title defense Tuesday night against Dominik Koepfer.
Alcaraz edged Djokovic for the title at Wimbledon, after Djokovic eliminated the Spaniard in the semifinals en route to the French Open title.
“Of course we know that the biggest, let’s say, players right now are Carlos and Novak,” Medvedev said. “But, well, they have to win their matches also to meet me, if I’m there. Same works for me.”
Medvedev certainly has the game to compete with either on the hard courts of the U.S. Open, where the Russian was also the runner-up to Rafael Nadal in 2019.
(AP)
