Will U.S. Open semifinals yield a Carlos Alcaraz-Novak Djokovic final?
Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic are on track for a meeting in the U.S. Open final. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams; Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The best story in the U.S. Open men’s semifinals is Ben Shelton, the big-serving, 20-year-old American who has loudly announced his arrival as a budding star.
But the best potential matchup to come out of the semis on Friday has nothing to do with Shelton. For most avid fans, there can be only one fully satisfying final on Sunday:
Novak Djokovic against Carlos Alcaraz in a rematch of their epic Wimbledon final in July, which Alcaraz won, 1-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-1, 3-6, 6-4.
More recently, they met in another doozy of a final in last month’s Western & Southern Open at Cincinnati, with Djokovic winning, 5-7, 7-6 (9-7), 7-6 (4).
“It would be great to play a final against Novak here in New York,” Alcaraz said on Wednesday after his quarterfinal victory over Alexander Zverev.
“But both of us have a really tough semifinal, so let's see. But obviously, both of us are looking for that potential final.”
It would be a surprise if either failed to get there but not a shock in the case of Medvedev, the 2021 U.S. Open champion.
Medvedev reached this year’s Wimbledon semifinals before losing to Alcaraz, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3. Alcaraz is 2-1 in his career against Medvedev, 2-0 this year.
“The last matches that I played against Daniil, I played a tactical game, played perfectly,” Alcaraz said. “I did pretty well all the things that I had to do against him, so I think my game suits pretty well against that type of opponent, like Daniil.
“So I’m going to try to do the same things that I did, for example, in Indian Wells and in Wimbledon.” (Alcaraz beat Medvedev, 6-3, 6-2, in the Indian Wells final in March.)
Medvedev said he has been watching Alcaraz play at the Open and seen “incredible stuff.”
“Two last times I lost, let's call it pretty easy,” Medvedev said of the matchup. “I’m someone who fights a lot, so I want to try to be better, and I need to be 11 out of 10 to try to beat him.”
Medvedev said Alcaraz is “good from forehand, backhand, he can slice, dropshot. So he has every shot in the game.”
But . . . “In tennis, you can always beat players. People beat Novak. People even beat Rafa [Nadal] on clay, which is almost impossible, but some players do. It's the same about Carlos.”
Shelton is unseeded in a final four that includes the top three seeds in Alcaraz, Djokovic and Medvedev. He has little to lose against the 36-year-old Djokovic, a heavy favorite.
“Definitely a tough challenge,” Shelton said. “I think that whenever you play somebody for the first time and someone who has been in this situation so many times and come out victorious so many times, that's in the back of your head, just how rock-solid the guy is and how mentally tough, how physically tough. So that's definitely something that I have to game-plan for.
“I also think it's an advantage with my game style playing someone who's never played me before. I think I can bring some things to the table that maybe you don't see in your normal match that you play on the ATP Tour. So I'm definitely going to try to bring some things to the table that are different and hopefully disruptive on Friday.”
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
More tennis
