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Relieved Djokovic Resumes Quest to Boost Grand Slam Tally at French Open

Defending champion Serbia's Novak Djokovic speaks next to the cup during the draw of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Thursday, May 19, 2022. (AP)
Defending champion Serbia's Novak Djokovic speaks next to the cup during the draw of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Thursday, May 19, 2022. (AP)
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Relieved Djokovic Resumes Quest to Boost Grand Slam Tally at French Open

Defending champion Serbia's Novak Djokovic speaks next to the cup during the draw of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Thursday, May 19, 2022. (AP)
Defending champion Serbia's Novak Djokovic speaks next to the cup during the draw of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Thursday, May 19, 2022. (AP)

Novak Djokovic was ready to skip Grand Slams rather than take a COVID-19 vaccine following the Australian Open fiasco, but the world number one has been building up steam in a stop-start season to peak in time for his French Open title defense.

The 20-times Grand Slam champion was unable to defend his Australian Open title in January after being deported from the country, having initially been admitted to the tournament despite not taking the vaccine.

Djokovic began his season late in Dubai and was knocked off top spot following a shock loss to qualifier Jiri Vesely in the quarter-finals before pulling out of Indian Wells and Miami as he was unable to gain entry into the United States.

The Serbian risked being frozen out of Roland Garros as well due to his vaccine stance but earned a reprieve when France lifted restrictions in almost all public spaces in March.

The claycourt swing in April produced mixed results as the 34-year-old was stunned by Alejandro Davidovich Fokina early in Monte Carlo and Andrey Rublev in the Belgrade final, before he fell to red-hot Carlos Alcaraz in the Madrid semis this month.

But after capturing his first title in over six months without dropping a set at the Italian Open last week, Djokovic showed he was one of the top contenders ahead of his bid for a 21st Grand Slam crown to move level with Rafa Nadal.

"To some extent it's a relief because after everything that happened at the beginning of the year, it was important to win a big title," said Djokovic, who won his sixth crown in Rome and sealed his 1,000th tour-level win along the way.

"Especially with Grand Slams coming up, where I want to play my best and be at the level of confidence ... to have a chance to win the title."

'Perfect preparation'

Djokovic reiterated that he would use his hardship in a tumultuous year as fuel for the remainder of the season after he dismantled Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-0 7-6(5) in the Rome final.

"Anything I was really looking for in Rome I got," said Djokovic, who also beat world number four Tsitsipas in last year's French Open title clash.

"It's the perfect preparation and lead-up to Roland Garros. I'm going to Paris with confidence and good feelings about my chances. With the rankings and the way I've been playing in the last few weeks, I'd rate myself as one of the favorites."

Nadal's foot injury before the year's second Grand Slam may reinforce Djokovic's claims, but Spanish 19-year-old Alcaraz -- who beat both players en route to the Madrid title and looks primed for major success -- represents a hurdle.

"I don't obviously spend too much time thinking who's going to win it or who might have the best chance," Djokovic said. "I always think about myself.

"I go there with the highest ambitions... Obviously the draw is not something you can affect, but it's going to determine my trajectory to the later stages.

"Best of five sets, you play every second day. It's a Grand Slam. It's different ... you have to approach it differently."

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Coco Gauff Comes Back at US Open and Beats Elina Svitolina

USA's Coco Gauff celebrates winning the second set against Ukraine's Elina Svitolina during their women's singles third round match on day five of the US Open tennis tournament at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York City, on August 30, 2024. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP)
USA's Coco Gauff celebrates winning the second set against Ukraine's Elina Svitolina during their women's singles third round match on day five of the US Open tennis tournament at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York City, on August 30, 2024. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP)
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Coco Gauff Comes Back at US Open and Beats Elina Svitolina

USA's Coco Gauff celebrates winning the second set against Ukraine's Elina Svitolina during their women's singles third round match on day five of the US Open tennis tournament at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York City, on August 30, 2024. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP)
USA's Coco Gauff celebrates winning the second set against Ukraine's Elina Svitolina during their women's singles third round match on day five of the US Open tennis tournament at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York City, on August 30, 2024. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP)

Coco Gauff was not aware that she'd lost five consecutive matches against opponents ranked in the top 50. She was not sure exactly how many points in a row she'd dropped — 11, it turns out — to give away the first set against Elina Svitolina in the US Open’s third round on Friday.
Here, then, is what was entirely clear to Gauff at that moment: “I needed a reset.” So before the second set, the 20-year-old from Florida went to the bathroom, changed part of her outfit and splashed water on her face. Then Gauff went back on court and extended the defense of her first Grand Slam title by turning things around to beat the 27th-seeded Svitolina 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, The Associated Press reported.
“Felt like a new person coming out,” the third-seeded Gauff said. “I just didn’t want to leave the court with any regrets.”
After making mistake after mistake early on at Arthur Ashe Stadium, Gauff managed to reel off nine of 11 games in one stretch and won again despite losing the opening set, something she did three times en route to claiming the 2023 trophy at Flushing Meadows, including in the final against Aryna Sabalenka.
“It was in my mind today. It gave me a lot of confidence,” Gauff said, “just because it felt like déjà vu a little bit.”
On Sunday, Gauff will face No. 13 Emma Navarro, one of her teammates at the Paris Olympics, for a berth in the quarterfinals. Navarro eliminated Gauff in the fourth round at Wimbledon.
“I did a good job of neutralizing her serve and just playing really aggressive from the baseline and pushing back against her groundstrokes,” Navarro, who is from South Carolina and won an NCAA title for Virginia, said about that matchup last month. “And then always getting one more ball back in the court.”
Navarro advanced Friday with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 victory over No. 19 Marta Kostyuk. Other women's fourth-round matchups set up in the afternoon were No. 7 Zheng Qinwen vs. No. 24 Donna Vekic, and No. 26 Paula Badosa vs. Wang Yafan. No. 2 Sabalenka was set to play No. 29 Ekaterina Alexandrova at night, with the winner to face No. 33 Elise Mertens, who outlasted No. 14 Madison Keys in three sets.
The first men’s fourth-round pairing that was set up was No. 6 Andrey Rublev against No. 9 Grigor Dimitrov. No. 8 Casper Ruud will meet No. 12-seeded Taylor Fritz.
Zheng-Vekic is a rematch of the gold medal match at the Summer Games four weeks ago; Zheng won that one.
Vekic beat Gauff in the third round at the Olympics, part of Gauff's recent drought against top-50 foes. That also was part of a recent slump that saw Gauff win just five of her previous nine matches.
Such a contrast to a year ago, when Gauff won 18 of 19, and 12 in a row, along the way to two tuneup titles on hard courts and then the championship at the U.S. Open that made her the first U.S. teenager to triumph at Flushing Meadows since Serena Williams in 1999.
By the conclusion of one set against Svitolina, it seemed as if another loss might be in the offing. Gauff’s totals were 16 unforced errors — nine on backhands — and just seven winners. She put only 45% of her first serves in. She went 0 for 3 on break points. She allowed Svitolina to claim 19 of the 28 points that lasted more than four strokes.
All of those numbers got better across the last two sets as Gauff tried to be more aggressive with her forehands and be more careful with her backhands. And something else changed, at the behest of her coaches: Gauff got the partisan crowd more involved.
Svitolina said afterward she was bothered by an ankle injury picked up last week
“I feel like she started to go (for) more a little bit. But to be fair, I didn’t play the way that I wanted to play. ... Then she started to be more alive," said Svitolina, a three-time Slam semifinalist. "And, of course, the crowd was behind her."
Everything began to change for Gauff on Friday after 1 hour, 10 minutes, when she broke to lead 4-2 in the second set, smacking a cross-court forehand winner. She celebrated with a yell of “Come on!” and raised her left hand to wiggle her fingers and ask the spectators to get louder.
Soon that set belonged to Gauff, who closed it with a 94 mph ace, shook a fist and shouted.
In the third, with UConn women’s basketball stars Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd sitting in her guest box at Ashe, Gauff broke right away, then held to go up 2-0 with the help of one 38-stroke point that she took when Svitolina sent a backhand wide.
Soon it was 5-1 for Gauff, whose only late wobble came when she served for the match at 5-2. She wasted three match points and got broken there. But Gauff broke right back to close things out.
“I’m glad that I had that match,” Gauff said, “because I think it just makes me match-tough and gets me ready, probably, for future challenges.”