Once again, Novak Djokovic was forced to bow down before the unstoppable force of youth, knocked out of the US Open in straight sets by Carlos Alcaraz.
The Spaniard won 6-4, 7-6, 6-2 and, what was most damning for Djokovic’s chances of one day winning a 25th Grand Slam, he did not even have to play well to do so.
Alcaraz was careless and wayward. He made 30 unforced errors and his usually potent drop shot was ineffective. But at 22 years old he has 16 years on Djokovic and is simply a far, far better player. He is into a third straight Grand Slam final, where he awaits the winner of Friday night’s second semi-final between Jannik Sinner and Felix Auger-Aliassime.
‘It wasn’t the best level from me,’ said Alcaraz. ‘It was a really difficult match but it’s a great feeling to be in the final of the US Open again.’
On Sunday Alcaraz will go for a second US Open title and a sixth Grand Slam. Ridiculously, he has now made the final of his last eight events.
So where does this leave Djokovic? He finds himself in a strange form of limbo, a tennis purgatory in which he still has the measure of everyone else in the world but is a mile behind Sinner and Alcaraz. How long will he remain in the sport while that remains the case? It is almost as if he is waiting for another legitimate challenger to emerge, someone to whom he can pass the mantle of the third man.
Carlos Alcaraz did not need to play well to beat Novak Djokovic and reach the US Open final
The Spaniard won 6-4, 7-6, 6-2 in what was most of the most damning days for Djokovic’s chances of one day winning a 25th Grand Slam
At 22 years old, Alcaraz has 16 years on Djokovic and is simply a far, far better player.
Djokovic reaching the semi-finals of all four Grand Slams this year ranks among the more underrated sporting achievements this year. Each time he has been stopped by either injury or Sinner – or both.
After Wimbledon he bemoaned the fact that his body was no longer allowing him to arrive in peak condition by the time it came to face Sinner or Alcaraz.
Would that be the case here? He has had a lower-back niggle this fortnight and a nasty blister in the first round, but had two days of clear rest between his quarter-final win and this match. He had treatment on his neck at the end of the second set and looked compromised the more the match went on.
It was a dog day afternoon here in Queens, temperatures creeping towards 30oC for the first time this tournament, and that figured to benefit Alcaraz.
But he did not lose this match to injury or a lack of physicality. Djokovic simply has no weapons with which to hurt Alcaraz. He can get more of his shots back than most, get a few free points with the accuracy of his serving. But there is nothing in his forehand or backhand which can shift Alcaraz out of his comfort zone.
Alcaraz spent almost the entire match in attack-mode. Most of the points he lost were through loss of concentration and in a sense that was the most damning indictment of Djokovic’s level: Alcaraz did not have to play that well, did not have to lock in as he does against Sinner.
There were some sublime rallies, Djokovic winning a couple of drop-shot-lob exchanges. Alcaraz hit the shot of the match, an instinctive flicked forehand pass. There was plenty of terrific tennis for the daytime Ashe crowd to enjoy, but there was never any real jeopardy.
This was still a significant victory for Alcaraz, after two straight defeats by Djokovic. The first came in the Olympic gold medal match last year – one of the best matches of all time – the second in a peculiar Australian Open quarter-final when Alcaraz went totally off-course after Djokovic sustained an injury.
He did not play especially well here, but it was plenty good enough. Was there enough in this match to convince Djokovic to go again for another season of Grand Slam combat? That is the question he must answer.
