NEW YORK \u2014 For the second contest in a row at this\u00a0US Open,\u00a0Novak Djokovic\u00a0appeared a bit sluggish, a bit off, for a stretch. This time, he even dropped the opening set. And then, as always at Flushing Meadows, the 24-time Grand Slam champion progressed to the third round.<\/p>\n
Djokovic\u00a0improved to 36-0 across the first and second rounds in New York, a place he’s won four championships, by coming back to beat 145th-ranked American qualifier Zachary Svajda 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 at\u00a0Arthur Ashe Stadium\u00a0on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really tried to soak it in and enjoy the moment, especially when I won the first set,” said Svajda, a 22-year-old from San Diego. “It kind of shocked me. I was like, \u2018Wow!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked on court afterward how he felt in his first competition since\u00a0losing to eventual champion Jannik Sinner in the Wimbledon semifinals\u00a0on July 11 while hindered by a groin injury, Djokovic replied: \u201cNot that great, to be honest.”<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was missing a little bit,\u201d said Svajda, who got cramps in his legs and arms as the match wore on. \u201cHe was getting a little frustrated.\u201d<\/p>\n
At his news conference later, the 38-year-old Djokovic spoke a little more about his mood.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not a motivation thing. It\u2019s just like me a bit frustrated with my game, and then I kind of go through stuff internally that \u2014 you don\u2019t want to know the details what I\u2019m going through and telling myself,\u201d he explained after getting to the third round at a major for the 75th time, breaking a tie with Roger Federer for the most such appearances by a man.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just trying to be locked in. Just trying to solve the riddle once I\u2019m on the court,\u201d Djokovic continued. \u201cIt\u2019s not like I\u2019m not finding joy on the court competing. I enjoy competing, but I don\u2019t enjoy not playing well. That\u2019s why I put extra pressure on myself and my team to be better the next day, the next match.\u201d<\/p>\n
That will come against Cam Norrie, a British left-hander who reached the semifinals at Wimbledon in 2022 and is 0-6 against Djokovic.<\/p>\n
Norrie got past Francisco Comesana of Argentina 7-6 (5), 6-3, 6-7 (0), 7-6 (4) in four hours and now it’s his turn to face the task that Svajda did Wednesday against Djokovic.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe does everything so well, which is incredible,\u201d Svajda said. \u201cI was talking to my team and coaches before, trying to figure it out. It\u2019s Novak Djokovic, so there’s not a big weakness.\u201d<\/p>\n
Townsend and Ostapenko have a heated exchange after their match<\/p>\n
Taylor Townsend and Jelena Ostapenko got into\u00a0a face-to-face argument\u00a0on the Court 11 sideline right after Townsend won their second-round match 7-5, 6-1. Townsend, an American who is ranked No. 1 in doubles, said Ostapenko, a Latvian who won the 2017 French Open, told her she has \u201cno class\u201d and \u201cno education.\u201d<\/p>\n
What else happened at the US Open on Wednesday?<\/p>\n
No. 5 seed\u00a0Jack Draper, a semifinalist in 2024, withdrew because of a lingering injury to his left arm. Winners included defending champion Aryna Sabalenka, both of last year’s runners-up \u2014 Jessica Pegula and\u00a0Taylor Fritz\u00a0\u2014 along with\u00a0Carlos Alcaraz, Ben Shelton, Frances Tiafoe, 2021 champion\u00a0Emma Raducanu\u00a0and Emma Navarro. No. 12 Casper Ruud, whose 0-3 record in Grand Slam finals includes a loss to Alcaraz at Flushing Meadows in 2022, was eliminated 6-4, 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 by Raphael Collignon of Belgium. The 107th-ranked Collignon had never won a match at a major or played a five-setter until this tournament.<\/p>\n
Who is scheduled to play Thursday at Flushing Meadows?<\/p>\n
Past US Open champions Sinner, Iga Swiatek and\u00a0Coco Gauff\u00a0are in Ashe, as is No. 14 seed Tommy Paul, while\u00a0Venus Williams\u00a0will play in the first round of\u00a0women’s doubles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK \u2014 For the second contest in a row at this\u00a0US Open,\u00a0Novak Djokovic\u00a0appeared a bit sluggish, a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":102993,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":{"0":"post-102992","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102992"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102992\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}