Chinese tennis star Wu Yibing on his journey to ATP Tour
It takes a trick or two to win the US Open and Novak Djokovic has already demonstrated that he can perform the spectacular, whether there is a point at stake or not. The 23-time Grand Slam win remains to course to clinch his fourth US Open title after qualifier Borna Gojo was swatted aside 6-2, 7-5, 6-4.
The Serbian will now face Taylor Fritz in the quarterfinals – one of three Americans to reach the final eight of the New York tournament.
“I did well in the important moments and I’m pleased to get through in three sets,” Djokovic declared straight after the contest.
“I knew Borna has a big game and is a big-shot player. One of the keys to the match was to reduce his serve and stop the aces. I tried to manage my energy and focus on accuracy with my serve. The matches are obviously going to get tougher but I’m ready.”
After plain sailing in the opening set, Djokovic suffered a shock after his serve was broken at the beginning of the second set. But Borna was not able to capitalise and after the Croat hit five doubles faults, his superior opponent retook control of the situation and never looked back.
Djokovic would go on to break Borna three more times before clinching the third and decisive set on his third match point with an ace.
But if the current World No 2’s victory was expected and pretty much routine, he still had something a bit extra to impress the large crowd with at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
With a 5-1 lead in the first set, Borna won the seventh match on his own serve, hitting the ball back high over the net in the aftermath.
As the ball made its way to Djokovic, the Serb calmly flicked open his shorts pocket with one hand before the ball magically landed in his pocket, disappearing from view.
A clip of the party trick was shared on the social media platform Reddit. User Saikuringo said: “I appreciate it’s a party trick but the level of hand eye coordination to judge the ball in flight, quickly adjust his feet, and have it perfectly land in his pocket is phenomenal.”
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Another user, dagroj, added: “This flew way too under the radar, I thought I must have been seeing things when the commentators didn’t say anything and no instant replay.”
A third user, renome, wrote: “Haven’t seen someone do this in a long time, incredibly impressive given how tiny those shorts are.”
Djokovic, who stands to return to the summit of the world rankings after the final slam of the season, was relaxed after his victory posing for selfies with the crowd. But top-ranked American Fritz is likely to be a very different proposition as the serious business begins in the second week of the tournament.
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