‘Perfect’ part of Slam plan
NEW YORK — Ask other tennis players what makes Novak Djokovic great, what has pushed him to the brink of the first calendar-year Grand Slam by a man in more than a half-century, and the responses might include a mention of the way he returns serves or his ability to cover the court or his two-handed backhand. And so on.
What they also invariably praise are his mental strength and physical stamina, his focus and his fitness, especially when it comes to the best-offive-set format used at the major tournaments where he’s 26-0 in 2021 heading into his U.S. Open semifinal against Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Alexander Zverev on Friday.
The latest to stand across the net from Djokovic was No. 6 seed Matteo Berrettini of Italy in the U.S. Open quarterfinals Wednesday.
Like Djokovic’s previous two opponents at Flushing Meadows, Berrettini grabbed the 77-minute opening set. Like in Djokovic’s previous two matches — and six others at Slams this season when he dropped one or two sets to start — he won, as Berrettini faded to a 5-7, 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 defeat.
It brought to mind what former player Andy Roddick, the 2003 U.S. Open champion who went 5-4 against Djokovic from 2007-12 when their careers overlapped, tweeted a couple of days earlier: “First he takes your legs ... Then he takes your soul.”
So which is tougher to overcome against Djokovic, the prowess of his body or his mind?
“A little bit of both. Even if you see him get flustered, he can get ... in his zone. That’s something that, over time, he’s created. You feel that from the other side of the net,” Berrettini said. “From a physical standpoint, I feel like I can play at a high level, but it almost seems like he doesn’t get fatigued. It’s kind of like he says, ‘OK, bring it. Tired? I can stay here for three or four days.’ That’s the sensation.”
Now it’s Zverev’s turn to try.
The 2020 U.S. Open runner-up enters Friday on a 16-match winning streak, including coming back from a set and a break down to upset Djokovic 1-6, 6-3, 6-1 in the semifinals of the Tokyo Games.
One difference between that Olympic match and what awaits Friday: The contest in Japan was bestof-three-sets.
The longer format favors Djokovic.
Which is at least part of the reason that if the 34-year-old from Serbia can win against Zverev and win again in the final, Djokovic would become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to collect all four major singles tennis championships in one year.
Such a feat requires excellence in match after match, on all surfaces, against players of various size and skill.
“I’ve worked over the years to perfect my game so that my game can have literally no flaws,” Djokovic said. “... There’s always something you can improve. I want to have as complete of an all-around game as I possibly can, so that when I’m playing someone, I can adjust on any surface, I can come up with different styles of play, I can tactically implement the game that I need for that particular match in order to win.”