Novak Djokovic was cruising along with a big early lead in his US Open fourth-round match on Sunday night when his neck started bothering him. But that didn't stop him from dominating 144th-ranked qualifier Jan-Lennard Struff 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 to reach his record 64th Grand Slam quarterfinal.
“What gives me a lot of encouragement right now, and positivity, is the way I played tonight,” Djokovic said. “Best performance of the tournament so far. Hopefully I can keep that going.” Djokovic was ahead 4-0, 15-love when he hit a nicely angled volley winner to go up 30-love in that game. The 24-time Grand Slam champion immediately grabbed at the back of his neck and started turning his head.
The 38-year-old Djokovic kept trying to stretch his neck and flex his right shoulder between points, and he went on to drop that game and the next one, too. But he soon regained the upper hand against Struff, who beat Frances Tiafoe in the previous round and was trying to get to a major quarterfinal for the first time.
After improving to 8-0 against Struff, Djokovic now carries a 10-0 head-to-head record into his quarterfinal on Tuesday against 2024 US Open runner-up Taylor Fritz.
“I expect players that never won against me to come out on the court and try something different and try to make me feel maybe uncomfortable and play more aggressive, or not, whatever,” Djokovic said. “I don't think there's going to be any major changes with Taylor, because, obviously, you stick to the kind of a game plan that got you to the quarters, and you know what your strengths are ... which for him obviously is serve and forehand,” said Djokovic.
The No. 4-seeded Fritz, the last American man in the bracket, moved into the quarterfinals with a 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 victory on Sunday against No. 21 Tomas Machac of the Czech Republic.
In another crucial match, Carlos Alcaraz hit a behind-the-back shot at the US Open to win a point in a 7-6 (3), 6-3, 6-4 victory over Arthur Rinderknech on Sunday, which made the Spaniard the youngest man in the Open era to reach 13 Grand Slam quarterfinals.
“Sometimes, I practice it. I'm not going to lie,” the No. 2-seeded Alcaraz said about the bit of wizardry he delivered in the first set. “But I mean, I don't practice it, like, too many times. Just in practice, if the opportunity is there, I will try. In the match, it's kind of the same. If I have the opportunity, why not?” At 22 years and 3 months, Alcaraz is about 6 months younger than Boris Becker was when he got to major quarterfinal No. 13.
Alcaraz's opponent on Tuesday will be No. 20 Jiri Lehecka, a 23-year-old from the Czech Republic. Lehecka advanced to his second Slam quarterfinal with a 7-6 (4), 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 win over Adrian Mannarino.
By the last game, even Rinderknech was smiling at other next-level strokes by Alcaraz, who has won 54 of 55 service games through four matches this year at Flushing Meadows. He claimed the title here in 2022 for the first of his five Grand Slam trophies.
Alcaraz is into his fourth major quarterfinal of 2025, the first time in his career he's gone 4 for 4 in that category in a season. He lost to Novak Djokovic at that stage at the Australian Open in January, won the French Open in June and lost to No. 1 Jannik Sinner in the final at Wimbledon in July.
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