Novak Djokovic of Serbia serves against Kyle Edmund of Great Britain (not pictured) on day seven of the 2016 US Open tennis tournament at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
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The 14-time Grand Slam champion suffered a 1-6, 6-2,4-6,6-3, 6-7 (6-8) defeat against the 24th seed in the last eight contest that lasted nearly four hours.
Djokovic’s victory put him into the last eight against ninth-seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, a 6-3 6-3 6-7 6-2 victor against American 26th seed Jack Sock. The world number one will face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.
The US Open is tennis’ most generous tournament in terms of its pay outs to athletes, with this year’s singles winners due to earn a record $3.5m.
He predicted a big future for Edmund but thought the occasion had got to him this time.
Edmund kissed the baseline for 6-3 and three match points.
Edmund has enjoyed something of a NY breakthrough, knocking out Richard Gasquet and John Isner in rounds one and three, but Djokovic was always likely to offer a step up in class and did not disappoint. Asked what kind match he hoped for between those two, Tsonga joked, “really, really, really long”.
Although everyone noticed that Djokovic is calling his physiotherapist during his match, he noted that everything’s fine and good.
Djokovic put the set back on serve with a break for 3-3, and broke Edmund at love to close out the match. “To play the world No1 on the biggest tennis court in the world, it doesn’t get much better than that”.
Kyle Edmund says that he will take the positives from his run to the fourth round of the US Open.
Edmund, nerves no doubt knocking about in his skull like pots and pans, double-faulted on his second set point but repaired the damage to go a set up just past the first half hour. The world No. 1 hit 307 match wins at the majors to move past Martina Navratilova (306) and tie Roger Federer for the most ever. “I’m confident that everything is going in the right direction”.
The 29-year-old remains on course for his 13 Grand Slam title and his third this year.
However, the 21-year old Briton produced a very fearless performance in the competition and will surely be one to look out for in the future. Her aggressive approach will go up against the more conservative, defensive game of Wozniacki, a former No. 1 who is now ranked 74th. “Maybe it wasn’t the result you guys wanted, but I want to thank everyone for supporting me”.
“I feel I had some good success in that match”, Edmund said. He levelled the match and then with his eighth break of serve took his place in the quarter-finals, the arm not appearing to be an issue.
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In a marquee matchup between an experienced Grand Slam victor and an up and coming American star, it was Kerber who raced out to an early 3-0 lead to quickly put an end to any chance of a magical upset happening inside Arthur Ashe Stadium.
