World No. 1 Novak Djokovic starts his quest for tennis immortality and the Grand Slam on Tuesday, when recent Western & Southern Open titlist Alexander Zverev, Matteo Berrettini and Denis Shapovalov also compete. A number of #NextGenATP players, including Italians Jannik Sinner and Lorenzo Musetti, and American Sebastian Korda, will be hoping to impress in New York City.
As the first male player in 52 years to hold the Australian Open, Roland Garros and Wimbledon crowns in the same season, all eyes will be on how Djokovic copes with the pressure and weight of expectation at the final major championship of 2021. The 34-year-old, who won the 2011, 2015 and 2018 US Open titles, has been quick to deflect the pressure. But he'll come across a familiar face during his night session clash against qualifier Holger Vitus Nodskov Rune on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Rune, who recently became the fourth teenager — after Nick Kyrgios, Taylor Fritz and Carlos Alcaraz — since 2010 to win back-to-back ATP Challenger Tour titles, is making his major championship debut and has not met a Top 10 opponent before. But the former junior World No. 1 knows Djokovic’s game.
In March, Rune reached out to the World No. 1 to arrange two practice sessions at the Monte-Carlo County Club, having seen a video of Djokovic sweeping a clay-court. “He was so kind and we got the practice organised and had two very good practices with each other at a very good level,” Rune told ATPTour.com.
The 18-year-old also got the opportunity to see just how tough the Serbian superstar, who has compiled a 38-5 match record this season, really is. “I think his consistency is incredible, how he just keeps hitting the ball in the same spot in a varied level of pace,” said Rune. “That was probably the most impressive thing.”
Over the next fortnight, Djokovic is not only bidding to follow in the footsteps of Don Budge (1938) and Rod Laver (1962 and 1969) and complete the Grand Slam, but he is also hoping to win seven straight matches and break a tie with Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer with a record-breaking 21 major singles trophies.
Of course, Djokovic will be wary of the threat of fourth seed Zverev, who features in the same half of the 2021 US Open draw and broke a five-match losing streak against the World No. 1 en route to the Tokyo Olympics gold medal earlier this month.
Eleven matches unbeaten has given the German a whole heap of confidence and, having come within two points of his first major title at last year’s US Open (l. to Thiem), the next fortnight may prove to be a major stepping stone. Zverev will be looking to extend his perfect 2-0 ATP Head2Head record against American Sam Querrey, the 2017 quarter-finalist, first on the main show court at 12 noon.
Having picked up his fifth ATP Masters 1000 title two weeks ago at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, Zverev admitted, “It has been a pretty incredible month for me… I hope I continue this wave here in New York and we'll see how it goes.”
Another potential obstacle in the way of Djokovic’s historic quest may well be sixth-seeded Italian Matteo Berrettini, who features in the Serbian’s quarter of the draw. Berrettini may have played just two matches since losing to Djokovic in the Wimbledon final on 11 July, but has long impressed with his raw power — 459 aces in 41 matches this year — and ability to play on all surfaces.
The 25-year-old, who takes on France’s Jeremy Chardy on Tuesday second on Grandstand, also won’t be overawed by the atmosphere in New York, two years on from reaching his first major semi-final with notable wins over Andrey Rublev and Gael Monfils at Flushing Meadows.
Three young players — 20-year-old Sinner, 21-year-old Korda and 19-year-old Musetti — who are in the first five positions in the ATP Race To Milan for a place at the 2021 Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals, will all be attempting to record their first match wins at the US Open on Tuesday.
Sinner, who is aiming to beat Australia’s Max Purcell for his first win on his third visit to New York, broke into the Top 15 of the FedEx ATP Rankings earlier this month with victory over Mackenzie McDonald at the Citi Open in Washington D.C. As the youngest ATP 500 champion since the tournament category was created in 2009, Sinner remains in contention for a spot at the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin.
Korda sits at a career-high No. 45, with 23 match wins in a breakthrough year that includes his first ATP Tour title at the Emilia-Romagna Open (d. Cecchinato) in May. The American plays Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili for the first time. Musetti, who led Djokovic by two-sets-to-love in the Roland Garros fourth round in June, bids to snap a six-match losing streak against American Emilio Nava.
Tennis fans can also follow the fortunes of three more Top 10 seeds on day two. Seventh seed Denis Shapovalov, who became the first Canadian men’s quarter-finalist in US Open tournament history in 2020, plays Argentina’s Federico Delbonis third on Louis Armstrong. Ninth-seeded Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta, the 2017 and 2020 semi-finalist, faces Maxime Cressy – one of 21 American men in the main draw – on Court 4, and Polish 10th seed Hubert Hurkacz takes on Belarus’ Egor Gerasimov second on Court 11.
Elsewhere, one of the sport’s breakout stars of the season, Russian 21st seed Aslan Karatsev — the Australian Open semi-finalist (l. to Djokovic) and Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships (d. Harris) winner — tackles Spain’s Jaume Munar first on Court 13. Another Russian, No. 25 seed Karen Khachanov, who has gone 12-4 since the start of Wimbledon and picked up the Tokyo Olympics silver medal (l. to Zverev), plays Lloyd Harris of South Africa.
Australia’s No. 14 seed Alex de Minaur will round out play on Tuesday in the last match on Louis Armstrong against American Taylor Fritz. De Minaur, the 2020 US Open quarter-finalist, has a 3-0 ATP Head2Head record against Fritz, dating back to their first meeting at the 2018 Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals.
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