Novak Djokovic lost his calm during a terrific game against Taylor Fritz in the US Open quarterfinal when a fan distracted the 23-time Grand Slam champion. It so happened that the player was in the middle of a set and the spectator sitting in the stadium shouted 'out'. The Serbian player then reacted with a yell as he also lost the next point due to the distraction caused in the audience.
“He was actually in the box where some of my friends were. I don’t know who the guy was; but yeah, I was pretty annoyed by him at that point. I was communicating with my friends to have a little chat with him,’ Djokovic said after the match.
“I’m actually glad the crowd wants to get into it, because it means the match is interesting, that they want to be part of it, that they’re having fun. At the end of the day, they pay to come and watch you play, so we try to put on a show. … Sometimes they might have an interaction with the player, like this guy. I’m sorry for him, but he was really annoying at that point.”
In Tuesday's first men's quarterfinal, played with the Arthur Ashe Stadium roof partly closed, 23-time major champion Novak Djokovic of Serbia defeated No. 9 Taylor Fritz of the United States 6-1, 6-4, 6-4. Djokovic next meets No. 10 Frances Tiafoe or unseeded Ben Shelton, who joined Fritz in making this the first time since 2005 that three U.S. men were in the final eight in New York.
Gauff, naturally, had the pro-American crowd on her side. They applauded and yelled for her even before she stepped out on the court, reacting when she was shown on the arena's video screens during a prematch TV interview. The roars crescendoed when Gauff was introduced before play began.
And once it did, she got off to about as good a start as possible, grabbing 12 of the initial 15 points for a 3-0 lead after just 10 minutes. Gauff didn't need to try to force things. To her credit, she didn't. What she did do was use her instincts, smarts and speed to get to Ostapenko's best groundstrokes and send them back over to the other side. That exemplary defense would extend points, more often than not, until Ostapenko erred.
Today was the best match I've played, for sure, Gauff said, even though it wasn't how I like to play.
(With PTI inputs)
First Published: Sept 7, 2023 1:15 PM IST
