On back-to-back days Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic suffered stunning defeats at the US Open, sending shockwaves through the tennis world.
The players remaining in the draw, headlined by Jannik Sinner, were quick to credit their opponents and point out that losses are part of the sport.
“It shows that this sport is unpredictable. Whenever you drop a little bit of your level, if it’s mental, if it’s tennis-wise or physical, at the end it has a huge impact on the result. Both opponents who they lost against, they played some incredible tennis. And it happens,” Sinner said. “So I just watch on my side what I have to do, that I guess I have done also in last period of time, and then we will see what I can do.”
One player who was directly impacted by one of the upsets was 25th seed Jack Draper. The Briton was in the same section of the draw as Alcaraz. But instead, the lefty faced the Spaniard’s conqueror, Botic van de Zandschulp.
“I think both of them, [Carlos and Novak], obviously played the Olympic final. I think that’s taken a lot out of them. It’s taken a lot out of everyone, but they obviously made the finals, and it was emotional for both of them,” Draper said. “Obviously Novak, that was probably his biggest goal, and to come through that is obviously emotionally challenging to sort of have a rest and then come here.
“Same with Carlos as well. He’s achieved so much this year winning the French, Wimbledon. I’m not surprised that they’re probably feeling really tired and emotionally a bit drained. But I watched both the matches, and I thought Botic played an incredibly high level of tennis against Alcaraz.”
Draper took advantage, defeating van de Zandschulp in straight sets Saturday to reach the fourth round. While preparing for his own match, he saw the first two sets of Alexei Popyrin’s stunner over Djokovic.
“I didn’t honestly feel like Djokovic was playing incredibly badly. Maybe his serve was a bit below par, but I felt like Popyrin played an incredible match as well,” Draper said. “There are a lot of players on the tour at the moment who are really dangerous and on their day can play an amazing match against the best players in the world.”
Home favourite Tommy Paul joked he was hoping the Popyrin-Djokovic match would end earlier.
“I wanted to go to sleep. Today was the first day I used an alarm clock the whole tournament,” Paul said, cracking a laugh. “I think the guys that played Alcaraz and Novak both stepped up and played awesome. But, yeah, I feel like I had the Olympic fatigue, I guess at the right time, in Canada and Cincy, but now I’m feeling pretty good. I had a nice little reset. It’s a tough turnaround. We never go from grass to clay to hard so quickly.
“But I don’t want to take anything away from those guys. They earned those wins and they played awesome tennis. I’m happy for them. And Carlos and Novak have won quite a few tournaments, so I don’t feel too bad, I guess.”
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Australian Jordan Thompson, who also made the fourth round on Saturday, does not watch a tonne of tennis in general.
“But I’ve been glued to it recently. Last night when I wasn’t at dinner I was watching Pop [Alexei Popyrin] play,” Thompson said. “He was playing the greatest of all time and took him time. We’ve got Davis Cup around the corner, so the corner couldn’t be better. If I do watch someone, it’ll be someone that I like or another Aussie.”
Nuno Borges, who advanced to the Round of 16 for the first time, caught short bits of each upset.
“I thought they played great. Talking about Popyrin first, I know he’s been on a big confidence moment and he’s always been a very dangerous player to be honest. Maybe it didn’t feel like he was that close, but I’m sure he was… closer than people think. When his big serve is going, there’s not really much you can do sometimes,” Borges said. “It doesn’t surprise me. Novak can have an average day and then a few more mistakes than usual and all of a sudden he’s two sets down and anything can happen.
“Carlos, I think he’s paying a little bit the price of such a heavy summer too. He’s won so much and I’m sure he gave it all in the Olympic Games. Maybe he still hasn’t been able to fully recover mentally. That’s tennis. We’re expecting always so much from him, but you look back and he’;s still done some very, very good results.”
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