Tennis player Novak Djokovic secured his return to the top of the world rankings by beating Alexandre Muller 6-0, 6-2, 6-3 in the first round of the US Open on Monday night.
The match began after 11:00 p.m. (04:00 a.m. this Tuesday in Lisbon), after a ceremony on the opening night of the tournament, but Djokovic stated, in the post-match interview, that “night sessions here are always something very special.” “.
“I think I started the first set tremendously well,” said the Serbian, who needed just 23 minutes to win the first set without losing a single game against Frenchman Muller, 26, number 84 in the ATP ranking.
After the match, which lasted one hour and 35 minutes, Djokovic admitted to some problems with his serve in the second and third sets, but was pleased to have played at a high level “from start to finish”.
In the next round, the Serbian will face the Spanish Bernabé Zapata, number 76 in the world ranking, who defeated the young American Ethan Quinn 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 in two hours and 13 minutes.
“There are no easy opponents,” said Djokovic, who described Zapata as a specialist in clay-court tournaments but who also knew how to adapt to fast pitches.
The 36-year-old tennis player, who has already won 95 titles throughout his career, only needed to win a match in the United States to dethrone Spanish tennis player Carlos Alcaraz, 20, at the top of the world ranking.
In the next ATP Rankings update, on September 11, Djokovic will be in the lead for week 390, thus extending his own record.
After missing the 2022 edition for not being vaccinated against Covid-19, as happened this season at the 1,000 Masters in Miami and Indian Wells, the Belgrade tennis player is playing for the 17th time in the North American ‘major’, which he won three times in nine finals played.
Djokovic said it was “always a pleasure and an honor” to play at the US Open, adding that he was “excited” to be back.
The Serbian holds 23 titles in Grand Slam tournaments and in Flushing Meadows he will try to equal the 24 trophies of the Australian Margaret Court.
This season, Djokovic has won 38 matches and lost only five, one of which was precisely against Carlos Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final, the penultimate ‘major’ of the season.
The two tennis players are tied in direct confrontation (2-2), after Djokovic’s recent victory in the final of the Cincinnati Masters 1,000, in what was Alcaraz’s twelfth tournament this season.
Despite the defeat, the young man from Murcia arrived in New York, where a year ago he made his debut winning the Grand Slam, with 53 wins and six losses -the best record on the circuit this year-, in addition to the six titles won, in a total of eight finals played.
Source: TSF
