Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek continued their impressive 2023 season on Monday at the US Open where they defeated Vasil Kirkov and Denis Kudla 5-7, 6-4, 7-5 to reach their eighth tour-level quarter-final of the season.

The Croatian-American team has lifted four trophies together this season, including their first major at Roland Garros. The second seeds overcame a tough battle against Kirkov and Kudla to keep alive their hopes of triumphing in New York, saving one match point at 4-5 in the third set to advance.

They will next play Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski after the ninth seeds beat Santiago Gonzalez and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-2. Nys and Zielinski clinched their maiden ATP Masters 1000 title together in Rome in May.

Americans Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow also advanced, upsetting top seeds Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski 7-6(2), 6-3. Lammons and Withrow have now won their past seven matches, having clinched their third tour-level crown of the season in Winston-Salem.

Robert Galloway and Albano Olivetti advanced to the quarter-finals, upsetting fourth seeds Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 in one hour and 59 minutes.

Serbian Hamad Medjedovic added another milestone to his rapid rise Sunday on the ATP Challenger Tour.

The 20-year-old collected his third Challenger title of the season by winning the Rafa Nadal Open by Movistar in Mallorca, where he downed Frenchman Harold Mayot 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 in the final.

“The conditions were really tough and Harold was playing really good, especially after the first set. I’ve known him for a very long time, I knew it was going to be a hard match,” Medjedovic said. “I was feeling pressure in every game that we played. It was a really tough match, it was very windy. I’m really happy that I found my game in the end and closed the match.”

Hamad Medjedovic wins the Rafa Nadal Open by Movistar.” />
^{Hamad Medjedovic wins the Rafa Nadal Open by Movistar. Credit: Alvaro Diaz}

Held at the Rafa Nadal Academy, his Mallorca triumph marks Medjedovic’s fourth Challenger title. His standout season has lifted him to ninth in the Pepperstone ATP Race To Jeddah as he aims for maiden qualification to the Next Gen ATP Finals, which showcases the season’s best 21-and-under players.

Medjedovic now looks to build upon his momentum following his first hard-court title.

“It means a lot especially because this is the first one on hard courts, I’ve won three on clay,” Medjedovic said. “For sure it feels special and I’m really happy about it… I think it’s one of my best tournaments I’ve ever played on hard courts. I’m going out of this week with a lot of confidence and I will try to keep it for the rest of the season.”

At a career-high No. 119 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, Medjedovic has been working with former World No. 12 Viktor Troicki since the start of this year.

“I’ve been working on many things with my coach Viktor. He’s been through the situations that I am [going] through now and he’s helping me a lot, especially with my mental game,” Medjedovic said.

In other Challenger Tour action, Thiago Seyboth Wild lifted the trophy at the Challenger Citta’ di Como in Italy, where he rallied past Pedro Martinez 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 in the final. Following his third title of the season, Seyboth Wild sets his sights on making his Top 100 debut next Monday. The Brazilian is at No. 96 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings.

Seyboth Wild, who is Brazil’s highest-ranked male player, also claimed Challenger titles this season in Vina del Mar and Buenos Aires.

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A breakthrough moment for Seyboth Wild came this year at Roland Garros. The 23-year-old advanced through qualifying and upset Daniil Medvedev in the opening round en route to a third-round appearance. He became the lowest-ranked player (then-No. 172) to beat a second seed in the first round at Roland Garros since 1998.

Frenchman Terence Atmane earned his maiden Challenger crown Sunday when he triumphed at the Zhangjiagang International Challenger in China. Despite competing in his first Challenger final, the 21-year-old showed no signs of nerves, cruising past Mikalai Haliak 6-1, 6-2 in just 43 minutes after winning 22 of 22 points behind his first serve.

The lefty Atmane is up to a career-high No. 168 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings.

Terence Atmane wins the Zhangjiagang International Challenger.” />
^{Terence Atmane in action during Sunday’s final in Zhangjiagang. Credit: Zhangjiagang International Challenger}

Not for the first time this season, Novak Djokovic excelled under the gaze of NFL greatness with his fourth-round victory Sunday at the US Open.

In the stands at Flushing Meadows for the Serbian’s 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 triumph against Borna Gojo was NFL legend Aaron Rodgers. The New York Jets quarterback was following in the footsteps of his former on-field rival Tom Brady, who sat in Djokovic’s player box at Roland Garros in June as the Serbian charged to a record 23rd Grand Slam crown.

“It was a pleasure to have Aaron in the stands tonight for the match,” said Djokovic in his post-match press conference in New York. “I’m hoping he enjoyed himself. Obviously him, Tom Brady being in my box for Roland Garros finals and sitting next to my wife, was a huge honour. I have a relationship with Tom for several years. We go back. I have tremendous respect for him.”

Rodgers and Brady are the latest in a string of high-profile athletes from other sports to have watched or met ATP Tour great Djokovic over the years. His friends from other sports also include Swedish soccer star Zlatan Ibrahimovic and two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic.

“Zlatan is my favorite football player, no doubt,” said Djokovic. “His Balkan mentality is something that is very familiar to me, let’s say, even though maybe it looks weird to the rest of the world. I understand him very, very well, have known him the last 15 years.

“Nikola Jokic is the best basketball player in the world at the moment. Incredible guy. Everyone is so amazed with his skills, what he does on a basketball court. I’m not a basketball expert, so I can’t really talk about his game so much, but I’m a huge fan.

“Obviously a Serbian basketball player coming from Serbia, dominating the NBA, is something that doesn’t happen very often. I think it never happened in the history of our basketball in Serbia, that we had best basketball player in the NBA. That’s amazing. We all love him, support him.”

Novak Djokovic” />

_{^{Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Novak Djokovic at the 2021 Nitto ATP Finals. Photo Credit: FIT}}

Djokovic believes that a unique mindset unites many of the elite sportspeople he interacts with. Even after all his achievements across his groundbreaking ATP Tour career, the 36-year-old remains on the lookout for any lessons he can take from fellow sporting greats.

“I try to maintain and nurture relationships with athletes from different sports because, as an athlete, of course I relate to them,” said Djokovic. “I identify myself with what they are doing and I can understand the pain, the sacrifice, the dedication.

“I respect the greatness, especially the guys that have made it to an all-time great level in their respective sports. Those are the kind of people that you want to be around. You want to learn things from them because you never know, there are things that can be so inspirational, as they are in my relationship with Tom.”

Djokovic may not be counting on the support of too many of Rodgers and Brady’s fellow Americans in the quarter-finals in New York — the second seed takes on the No. 1 American Taylor Fritz in the last eight. With Frances Tiafoe or Ben Shelton, waiting in the semi-finals should he overcome Fritz, Djokovic is preparing to spoil the party as American fans hope for a first home champion at Flushing Meadows since Andy Roddick in 2003.

“I assume there’s going to be more support for Taylor Fritz in our next match,” said Djokovic. “Obviously eventually if I win, to play Shelton or Tiafoe in the semis. It’s expected. We’re in America playing against home players. It’s something that I would be surprised if it was otherwise, to be honest. So I know what I’m expecting, and I’m going to get ready for that mentally.

“Matches are only going to get tougher from now on. It’s the quarter-finals of a Slam. I think it’s important for a very big and important country in the tennis world, like America is, to have three tennis players in the quarter-finals of a Slam. It’s important for this tournament. It’s one of the four majors, one of the four most important events in the history of our sport.”

Coco Gauff revealed in her post-match press conference Sunday at the US Open that the trash talk has begun between men’s quarter-final opponents Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe.

“After my match, Ben and Frances were in the cooldown area, or warmup area, and it was really just cool to see us all there,” Gauff said. “Obviously the conversation, they already started the trash talk. I’m indifferent who wins, but I did say that Frances is a little bit upset because I said Ben had the better outfit than him.”

Gauff, who is also in the quarter-finals, is friends with several American players. She admitted she gave Tiafoe an earful about his kit.

“Frances told me at the French Open that he had something crazy planned for the US Open,” Gauff said. “I was like, ‘You’re wearing confetti.’ I said Carlos [Alcaraz] looked better. He’s going to hate this. Love you, Frances.” 

According to Shelton, the guys have bantered about their outfits, too.

“There’s not a time that he walks by me in the locker room and doesn’t say something about, ‘Man, I’m looking way better than you in this sleeveless shirt. You’ve got to work on those shoulders, buddy,’” Shelton said of Tiafoe.

A 2022 US Open semi-finalist, Tiafoe shed light on the trash talk they have started regarding their tennis rather than their fashion. The clash will be their first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting.

“Ben has wanted to play me at the Open for a long time. So he’s going to be super excited. He’s going to come out with a lot of energy,” Tiafoe said. “I’m just going to have to tame him down, try to be the vet and get the win. It’s going to be good. It’s going to be a great atmosphere, I think great representation for people of colour, right? Two people of colour playing in the quarter-finals, huge match on Arthur Ashe. It’s a pretty monumental moment.”

Gauff is thrilled to have so many Americans still competing in the season’s final major. There are three American men in the last eight of the US Open for the first time since 2005 and there will be at least two women from the home country in the quarter-finals, too.

“It’s really great. I was so happy. Obviously I know Tommy [Paul] really well, too. But I was really happy for Ben’s win,” Gauff said. “Especially they played each other in Australia, so it’s nice to just see the competitiveness between the countrymen and us all doing well.

“With Ben and Frances winning [that] guarantees a person in the semi. With Jess [Jessica Pegula] and Maddie [Madison Keys] playing, it guarantees a person in the quarters. It’s just really exciting tennis for America. I hope that the fans are excited, are as happy with it.”