The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Djokovic lets emotions show as calendar-year Slam nears
Novak Djokovic did not seek to keep his thoughts to himself on court Saturday, the way he mostly did through his first two U.S. Open matches. Instead, he let it all out, slapping his chest or sneering with a fist raised to celebrate success, pointing to his ear to ask the crowd for noise.
This was the Djokovic everyone is so accustomed to seeing — yes, winning on the Grand Slam stage, of course, as he always does in this magical season, but also animated and into it, encouraging the spectators to join him for the ride on his path toward tennis history.
Taking another step in his bid to complete the first calendar-year Slam by a man in more than a half-century, Djokovic moved into the fourth round at Flushing Meadows for the 14th consecutive appearance, coming back to beat Kei Nishikori 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-3, 6-2.
“I don't plan to have those kind of emotional moments on the court, whether good or bad. It just happens,” Djokovic said. “In the heat of the battle, when you feel like the moment is very important ... you just want to get those things out of yourself, out of your system.”
Djokovic, a 34-year-old from Serbia who is ranked No. 1, is now 24-0 in the sport's four most important events this season, having won the Australian Open in February, the French Open in June and Wimbledon in July. The last man to go 4 for 4 at the majors was Rod Laver in 1969; Steffi Graf was the last woman, in 1988.
Win four more matches next week, and Djokovic also would earn his 21st career Slam trophy, breaking the men's mark he shares with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
It was in the fourth round last year that Djokovic's U.S. Open ended, as he defaulted late in the first set for hitting a ball after ceding a game and inadvertently hitting a line judge in the throat. Now he'll play American wild-card entry Jenson Brooksby or 21st-seeded Aslan Karatsev, an Australian Open semifinalist this year.
Others advancing Saturday included Wimbledon runner-up Matteo Berrettini and No. 13 Jannik Sinner — they gave Italy a pair of men in the U.S. Open's fourth round for the first time in the event's 140-year history — along with Olympic women's gold medalist Belinda Bencic, 2019 U.S. Open champion Bianca Andreescu, 2020 French Open champion Iga Swiatek, two-time major finalist Karolina Pliskova and 18-year-old Emma Raducanu of Britain. No. 1 Ash Barty and Tokyo Games men's champ Alexander Zverev were playing in the night session.
After eliminating a couple of inexperienced opponents ranked 121st and 145th, Djokovic faced someone with a far better resume in Nishikori, who was the runner-up at the 2014 U.S. Open and has been as high as No. 4. Djokovic made 20 unforced errors in the first set, then reduced that to an average of 10½ per set over the last three. Djokovic came up with a high-for-him 15 aces.
“I couldn't break the wall,” Nishikori said. “He's very tough 'til the end.”