In his first competitive outing after a six-week hiatus, there were times when an increasingly frustrated Novak Djokovic looked dead on his feet. However, in the most important moments of his turbulent first round match against American teenager Learner Tien, Djokovic worked through his physical discomfort and then held his nerve in the decisive moments to win 6-1, 7-6 (3), 6-2 and reach the second round of the US Open.
Even at 38 years old, Djokovic has been the third best player at the grand slam tournaments this year, reaching the semi-final of all three prior events. However, his ageing body has struggled to handle the physicality required to succeed in the best of five sets format. After his straight sets loss to Jannik Sinner at Wimbledon, Djokovic cast doubt on his ability to remain fresh and healthy deep in the grand slam tournaments at his age.
Djokovic opted not to compete between Wimbledon and the US Open in order to prioritise his family and the challenge here was surviving a talented young opponent in Tien, a 19 year-old American, who has made his mark on the tour this year with a number of big wins, including a victory over Daniil Medvedev at the Australian Open. “I wish I had Learner Tien’s age, but that’s not possible,” said Djokovic. “Actually he’s [half] my age, that’s incredible.”
After blazing through the opening set, Djokovic began to struggle as Tien grew into the match, dragging the Serb into extended, physical exchanges that exposed his deficient match fitness. The American increasingly controlled the baseline with his wicked lefty forehand. Djokovic looked exhausted at points during the second set and as his unforced error count accordingly piled up, he repeatedly shouted his frustrations towards his player box. Still, Djokovic served well at the key points, saving a set point at 4-5 with an ace, and he continually looked for opportunities to shorten points by approaching the net.
“I started great,” said Djokovic. “Just over 20 minutes, first set, I felt really good. Then some long games to start the second set, and then I start to feel really… I don’t know why. I really was surprised how bad I was feeling in the second set physically.”
Towards the end of the second set, Djokovic’s physical struggles worsened, with the Serb repeatedly stretching out his left leg, his upper body and bending over. Tien tried to exploit the Serb’s difficulties by dragging him into lengthy rallies, causing Djokovic to bail out some points with last ditch drop shots. At one point in the second set tie-break, Djokovic conceded a second time violation warning as he tried to catch his breath after a lengthy exchange.
No matter, Djokovic emerged from the second set tie-break with a two-set lead before rolling to victory. “Good thing, two days off now,” Djokovic said. “But yeah, it’s slightly a concern. I don’t know. I don’t have any injury or anything. I just struggled a lot to stay in long exchanges and recover after points. It is what it is.”
Djokovic will next face the American qualifier Zachary Svajda, who reached the second round with a 6-4, 6-2, 7-5 win over Zsombor Piros. “In the important moments I just put one ball more in the court than he did,” Djokovic said. “I think it was also good to experience that, in a sense, kind of break the ice officially in the tournament. Looking forward to the next challenge.”
Elsewhere, the in-form sixth seed Ben Shelton opened his tournament with a solid showing, outplaying Ignacio Buse of Peru 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 to advance to the second round. Taylor Fritz, the fourth seed, also moved on without significant issues, beating Emilio Nava, an American wildcard, 7-5, 6-2, 6-3.
In the women’s draw, the top seed Aryna Sabalenka began her title defence with a confident performance as she defeated Rebeka Masarova 7-5, 6-1 to advance. Alexandra Eala, meanwhile, became the first Filipino player to win a grand slam main draw match as she recovered from 1-5 down in the final set to topple the 14th seed Clara Tauson 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 (11).
