After 26 grand slam wins and counting, the summit is nearing for Novak Djokovic. Now the hard work begins in earnest. Having survived early scares against Kei Nishikori, Jenson Brooksby and Matteo Berrettini, Djokovic will face Alexander Zverev, the man who thwarted his bid for an Olympic gold medal, in the last four of the US Open. From there, a projected meeting awaits with Daniel Medvedev, the second seed and standout performer of the North American hard-court season.
The prize could not be greater: a chance to become only the third man in history to win a calendar year grand slam, while collecting the 21st major that would move him to the top of the all-time honours list, ahead of Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. Is he feeling the pressure? Of course. Having repeated his Wimbledon final victory over Berrettini, coming from behind to win by a similar scoreline, 5-7, 6-2, 6-2, 6-3, Djokovic was quick to shut down an on-court question from Patrick McEnroe about his attempt to rewrite the record books.
“Five down, two to go,” McEnroe began.
“Do not ask me anything about that,” Djokovic quickly interjected. “I don’t want to think about it, I know it’s there. I’m just focusing on my next match. Let’s go step by step.”
It was not a terse exchange, but it did offer a window into the Serb’s state of mind as the endgame nears. Never has the one-match-at-a-time mantra felt more needful. Few will forget how Serena Williams fell short in 2015, losing in three sets to Roberta Vinci as she attempted to follow in the grand slam footsteps of Maureen Connolly, Margaret Court and Steffi Graf. She too had looked unassailable that year, but the mind can be the most formidable opponent of all in such unique circumstances. And if Serena at her peak could falter, anyone can falter.
Djokovic, a player who leaves nothing to chance, knows this all too well. Until recently, he has been happy to articulate his ambitions. Now is the time to let actions speak louder than words.
“I’ve been getting that question quite a lot recently, which is understandable,” said Djokovic after winning his third grand slam meeting with Berrettini this year. “But I had enough of answering that. I just said millions of times that of course I’m aware of the history, of course it gives me motivation. If I start to think about it too much, it burdens me mentally. I want to really go back to the basics and what really works for me mentally.
“I’m in a position that is very unique. I’m very grateful for that. I’m inspired to play my best tennis. But I know what works for me to win just the next match. So that’s the reason why I stopped Patrick. I hope he doesn’t mind. I know that a lot of people want to hear me talking about it. But let’s talk about it, hopefully, on Sunday.”
Zverev will be eager to ensure no such conversation takes place. The German’s 7-6 (8-6), 6-3, 6-4 victory over Lloyd Harris, the dangerous South African who beat Nadal in Washington, extended his winning streak to 16 matches. He has not lost since falling to Felix Auger-Aliassime in the fourth round of Wimbledon. And having beaten Djokovic en route to the Olympic title, and gone on to win the Cincinnati Masters, Zverev is riding the crest of a wave that he hopes will sweep him two points further than he went last year in New York, when he fell agonisingly short of claiming a first major in a fifth-set tiebreak against Dominic Thiem.
Zverev acknowledged the enormity of the challenge he now faces, but takes heart from the knowledge that he is the only player to have bested Djokovic in a big match this year.
“Against him, you prepare that you have to play the best match that you can,” said Zverev. “You have to be perfect, otherwise you will not win. Most of the time you can’t be perfect. That’s why most of the time people lose to him. Against him, you have to win the match yourself. You have to be the one that is dominating the points. You have to do it with very little unforced errors.”
He added: “This year it seems like nobody can beat him in a big match, nobody can beat him at the grand slams. I feel like I was the first player to beat him in a very big match this year. That does give you something. To any person, it would give something. I think it was very important for me to back it up in Cincinnati. Hopefully I can continue this streak.”
Yet to beat Djokovic over three sets is one thing; to do it over the long haul of a slam, quite another. Zverev won the opening set of their Australian Open showdown this year, just as Nadal did in Paris – where Lorenzo Musetti and Stefanos Tsitsipas had a two-set advantage – and Jack Draper at Wimbledon. Each time, the outcome has been the same. Over the course of five sets, Djokovic has an unerring capacity to endure, to wear down, to prevail.
It is a pattern with which Berrettini, who led by a set in the Wimbledon final only to be slowly ground into submission, is all too familiar. The Italian suffered the same fate in the Arthur Ashe Stadium, snaffling the opener only for Djokovic to make just 11 unforced errors in the three sets that followed.
“I was feeling good, playing good,” said Berretini. “Just he has this ability – and probably that’s why he’s the best ever – just to step up his game, his level, all the time. It doesn’t matter how well I play, he just plays better. He starts to return better, to serve better. I just couldn’t step up like he did. He deserved to win.”
If Zverev is to alter the narrative, he will need to play the match of his life. It may come down to a battle of mental perspectives. Zverev points out that he recovered from a set down to win against Djokovic at the Olympics; the Serb counters that he was only three games from victory.
“I was 6-1, 3-2 against Zverev, who was also playing very well,” reflected Djokovic. “Just I played great, great tennis. Then, unfortunately, my game fell apart. It happens. I just started to doubt my shots a bit. He started to read my serve well. He has a tremendous serve. He got a lot of free points on his service games. Next thing you know, he won it.
“He won it comfortably in the end. Deserved to win a gold medal, obviously, with the way he was playing. He hasn’t lost a match since. He’s in a fantastic form. Next to Medvedev, the best form. But it’s best-of-five. It’s a grand slam. Of course, looking at his results in the past few years, he’s played very well here on this court. He was a couple of points away from his first slam last year against Dominic.
“I know it’s going to be battle, even harder than it was today. But I’m ready for it. These are the hurdles that I need to overcome in order to get to the desired destination. The result is something that I can’t predict. But I can definitely put myself in the best possible state of mind and body to perform as well as I can.”
History suggests that tends to be enough.