Novak Djokovic’s belief to beat Carlos Alcaraz & Jannik Sinner at US Open doubted in strong claim
Former French ATP pro Nicolas Escude has cast doubt over Novak Djokovic’s belief that he can beat both Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner back-to-back at the 2025 US Open.
Djokovic is vying for a record-equalling fifth men’s singles crown at the US Open and a record-extending 25th Grand Slam overall. The 38-year-old, who is aiming to become the oldest Grand Slam singles titlist in history, secured his most recent major at the 2023 US Open.
The Serbian will face world No 2 and five-time Grand Slam champion Carlos Alcaraz in the semi-finals, while the winner will face either world No 1 Jannik Sinner or 27th-ranked Felix Auger-Aliassime.
The world No 7 holds a 5-3 head-to-head record against Alcaraz and has won the last two encounters, including a clash in the 2025 Australian Open quarter-finals.
Alcaraz, though has won 35 of his last 36 matches during a blistering stretch that started at the Italian Open in May. The Spaniard is yet to drop a set at the US Open in what has been a devastating run so far.
World No 1 Sinner, meanwhile, has won the last three hard-court Grand Slams and he has beaten Djokovic five times in a row.
The prospect of a 38-year-old Djokovic going through both Alcaraz and Sinner to win the title looks extremely difficult — even for a player many consider to be the greatest in tennis history.
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Speaking to L’Equipe, Escude made the strong claim that Djokovic himself does not believe he can defeat Alcaraz and Sinner consecutively.
“In my opinion, he has a motivation, an objective that we don’t know, that we don’t control, that belongs only to him,” said the former world No 17.
“When he sees Sinner and Alcaraz playing, I can’t believe he’s there saying to himself: ‘OK, I’ll take them both out one after the other, I have everything I need to do it.’
“He must feel that this is a level where, today, he is no longer capable of playing.”
Asked how he would describe the road ahead of him after his quarter-final win over Taylor Fritz, Djokovic admitted he had concerns over his body cooperating.
“Well, it’s not going to get easier, I tell you that,” said the former world No 1.
“But look, as I said, I’m going to try to take one day at a time, really take care of my body, try to relax and recover.
“The next couple of days is really key for me to really get my body in shape and ready to battle five sets if it’s needed. So I just would really love that, would love to be fit enough to play and to play, you know, potentially five sets with Carlos. And I know that my best tennis is going to be required, but I rise to the occasion.
“Normally, I like to play the big matches on a big stage. It’s just that I’m not really sure how the body is going to feel in the next few days. But, you know, I’m going to do my very best with my team to be fit for that. There’s going to be a lot of running involved, that’s for sure. I mean, there’s not going to be short points.”
On what it will take to win the tournament, given the level of Alcaraz and Sinner, Djokovic added: “Yeah, well, I mean, we don’t need to spend words about two of them. You know, we know that they’re two best players in the world.
“Everybody’s probably expecting and anticipating the finals between two of them. I’m going to try to, you know, mess up the plans of most of the people and let’s see.
“You know, I mean, they’ve been dominant force since the beginning of the tournament, but, you know, I definitely am not going with the white flag on the court. I don’t think anybody does, really, when they play them, but particularly not me.”
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