Novak Djokovic, of Serbia, left, talks with his coach Boris Becker, right, during a practice session after his opponent Mikhail Youzhny, of Russian Federation, retired in the first set of their match during the third round of the U.S. Open tennis tournament, Friday, Sept. 2, 2016, in NY.
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With Edmund possessing one particularly huge weapon, Croft says the 21-year-old could surprise some people when he takes to the court in the final match on Arthur Ashe tonight – live and exclusive on Eurosport.
Fed up with injuries, 26-year-old Sevastova retired from tennis in 2013 and chose to take up a course in management.
Djokovic handled Edmund 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals. He produced various bits of magic along the way: a jumping, head-fake drop shot at an impossible angle; a stretching angled cross-court backhand pass that drew an errant volley from Edmund; a body-contorting defense-to-offense forehand that drew a roar from spectators.
There was little sign in the first two sets of the injury to his left wrist or the problem with his right arm as he gave Edmund a harsh lesson in just how far he still has to go to reach the very top of the game.
Novak Djokovic takes on Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the men’s singles quarter-final clash of the 2016 US Open on Wednesday (7 September).
After Edmund’s victories over Richard Gasquet and John Isner last week it seemed that the Briton might have a chance of extending Djokovic, who had played only six games in six days after being handed a walk-over in the second round and seeing his opponent retire injured in the third.
“When I was a kid, of course I was dreaming of winning Slams and being one day No. 1, and now it can happen”, said Kerber.
“Considering I had some struggles before the tournament, I feel great at this moment physically”.
Meanwhile, Serena Williams set a new Grand Slam record of 308 victories following her victory over Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan yesterday.
But world number 84 Edmund can certainly look back on his time in NY with fond memories, following wins over 13th seed Richard Gasquet and 20th seed John Isner. “It was obviously a tough match”.
“I feel I had some good success in that match”, Edmund added. Tsonga continues to play his best tennis in grand slam play and has lost just one set in this tournament.
“But, again, I’m not too concerned about my game itself. Loads and loads of positives”.
Edmund levelled the set with a hold of serve to love and he broke Djokovic again to win his third game in a row.
Unusually for Djokovic, he faced a lot of question marks coming into this US Open, more than he has had to answer at the start of a major for a long time, and the stark truth is that not all of them have been answered yet.
“I knew it was going to come down to one or two points, so I’m very pleased I came out on top”.
“When it happens it will be an awesome feeling, because that was also one of my dreams when I was a kid”.
Djokovic will face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.
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The Frenchman has the tools to beat Djokovic, but an upset here looks unlikely considering the Serb is just easing his way into form.
