‘P*ssed off’ Novak Djokovic reveals how he pulled off another great escape at US Open

Novak Djokovic went from being “p*ssed off and annoyed” to being extremely grateful after he pulled off one of his famous comebacks at the US Open.

The 23-time Grand Slam winner looked like he could be headed for an early exit as he found himself two sets to love down against fellow Serbian Laslo Djere in their third-round encounter on Arthur Ashe Stadium on Friday evening.

But the tennis great took a bathroom break and regained his composure. Once back on the court, things started to click and he eventually secured a 4-6, 4-6, 6-1, 6-1, 6-3 win in a match that was 15 minutes shy of the four-hour mark.

It was only the second time that Djokovic had managed to win a five-setter after losing the first two sets at a hard-court Grand Slam with the only other victory coming in 2011 against Roger Federer at the US Open.

Of course, he achieved similar feats at Wimbledon last year and in the 2021 French Open final against Stefanos Tsitsipas.

But how exactly did he turn things around on Friday?

“I did a little pep talk in the mirror. I kind of laughed at myself because I was so p*ssed off and annoyed with the result,” he revealed.

“I had to force myself to lift myself up, lift the spirits up a little bit. I’ve done it a few times before in my career, it worked. A few times it didn’t work, but tonight it did and I’m grateful.”

Despite coming out on top, Djokovic admitted during his on-court interview that it was far from an enjoyable encounter for him.

“It’s almost 2am, a large number of people stayed,” he said. “I hope [the fans] enjoyed the show, it was definitely not so enjoyable for me, especially in the first two sets. It was one of the toughest matches I’ve played here in many years. Huge, huge credit to Laslo for playing some of the best tennis that I’ve ever seen him play.”

The 32nd-seeded Djere was brilliant in the opening two sets but he started missing crucial shots during the third set and once Djokovic broke early it was one-way traffic.

The world No 2 admitted he initially found it difficult to break down his opponent’s play and even when victory was in sight, he was still a little nervous.

“If he was getting tired, it didn’t take away much from his game to be honest. I think he played better in the fifth than he probably did in the third and fourth because he just started swinging through the ball,” he said. “He was behind a break and he served very well. He was hitting his spots so well.

“It was very difficult for me to find a solution. He is a very complete player, all-around quality serve, return, forehand, backhand. So I didn’t have many options at the beginning but in the third, I kind of lifted myself up and the crowd got into it.

“Once I got the break in the third I thought, ‘Okay, I have a chance, I might as well go after it.’ I started to play a bit more aggressive, started to read his game slightly more than I had in the first two sets. It worked well but trust me, it was nerve-racking all the way until the last shot.”

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